X Evolution: The Rise of Dusk
by Gemini Star01
Summary: After staying at the Institute for two months the twins have sort've adjusted to thier new surroundings. But what are these nightmares that Kouichi has been having? And why is Magneto so interested in him?
1. Barriers

This story is Episode 2 of the X-Evolution storyline! If you missed the first half, just go read it in my profile and you'll be all caught up. Otherwise, you won't have any idea what's going on…

**__**

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't.

****

The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk

Chapter 1: Barriers

_Darkness swirled around him, brushing against him softly. It reminded him, somehow, of his mother…stroking his fevered brow with a soothingly cool rag, holding him close to warm the rest of him with her own body. It was pleasant, kind and loving, a soft peace he hadn't felt since he was very young…_

A tongue of darkness swirled up and licked against his hand like a puppy greeting its owner on his way home from school. He played with it a moment, letting it slide up his arm and coil around the elbow mischievously.

Suddenly, though, the entire feel of his surroundings changed. The wind picked up as the darkness began to rush around him, faster and harder. The pressure started to grow, and the heat with it.

He took a step back, crying out slightly as a sharpened edge slashed his cheek, and another the edge of his throat. The shadows were becoming blades, swirling about and slashing at him, threatening to slice him to ribbons.

And above it all, a dark, creeping laughter echoed all around…

Kouichi Kimura, known to a selected few classmates as 'Yin', burst awake. He found himself sitting straight up in his bed, covers thrown to the floor and the fitted sheet nearly torn off the bed where he had writhed in the midst of his night terror. He gasped for breath, sweat running down his face as he stared into the depths of the vaguely moon-lit room.

Seconds later, the lamp turned on, revealing the worried face of his brother. Kouji Minamoto's blue eyes, two perfect mirror images of Yin's, were sharp and alert, on the watch for danger. He was raised up onto his elbow, a small ball of white-hot moonlight clutched in the opposite fist.

"What is it?" He whispered, drawing himself up to a slightly more defensive position. "What's wrong, Nii-san?"

Kouichi sighed, putting a hand to his chest and willing his over-excited heart to slow its rapid pounding. He closed his eyes a moment, blinking away the flashing white lights from his eyes.

"It's nothing, Kouji." He mumbled after a moment, opening his eyes again to glance at his brother warmly. "Just another…nightmare, that's all."

Kouji sighed as well, opening his hand to release the ball of light with a tiny, bright, yet harmless, flash. He crawled slowly out of bed, slipping his bare feet to the carpeted floor without so much as a breath. His sharp ears were searching the air for any indication that they had disturbed anyone else. The only sound was that of Takuya Kanbara, good ol' Flare, snoring away in the room adjunct to their own.

The long-haired boy moved silently across the room to slid onto the end of his brother's bed. Kouichi leaned against the headboard, pulling his knees in to wrap his arms around them loosely.

"…You wanna talk about it?" Kouji asked softly, his blue eyes shining with the compassion they usually hid from the rest of the world.

Kouichi shook his head wordlessly, staring at his bare toes. Kouji sighed, sliding a bit closer to touch his brother's hand. "They're getting worse, aren't they?" He asked, pressing onward. "And there are more of them…how long has this been going on?"

The question was rhetorical. They both knew exactly how long it had been happening: Two months, eighteen days. It had been that recently that a rouge battle with the Brotherhood of Mutants had caused Kouichi's second…accident…and since then, his sparse nightmares had grown more and more constant, until now, they came every single night.

Kouji wondered briefly if the Voice had anything to do with this. He had not told anyone about it…after mentioning it to the Professor at as a side, there hadn't been a word to anyone…not even Kouichi. If his gentle-hearted brother knew the things that Voice had said about him, everything about what it had planned…

Kouji really didn't want to think of what could happen.

Kouichi shifted his grip, turning to squeeze his brother's hand warmly. "…I think I can sleep now."

"…All right." Kouji gripped his hand kindly again, getting the hint and making his way back to his own bed. "G'night, Nii-chan…Sweet dreams."

****

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Someone poked him in the ribs. Kouichi groaned softly, burying his head in his arms as they did it again. "Oi. Vake up. Vou're going to sleep through de bell!"

Kouichi snapped his head up and blinked listlessly at one Kurt Wagner. The blue-furred mutant blended in perfectly in his hologram, so it was blue eyes rather than golden ones that were blinking down at him.

"Are vou all right?" Kurt asked as his fellow 'exchange student' sat up and blinked at the blackboard in confusion.

Kouichi yawned widely, rubbing his eyes. "Yeah…I'm okay." He muttered, shaking his head slowly. "I'm just a little…tired."

"You don't look so well." Bobby Drake suddenly popped up from his own vigil in the back of the room. Kouichi found himself momentarily relieved that Kouji didn't share his third-period class. He loved his brother, but Kouji could be just a little over-protective when it came to Kouichi's weak immune system, and he didn't really feel like putting up with that right now.

"Vou are a little pale." Kurt added, looking like he was tempted to put a hand to the Japanese boy's forehead. "Maybe vou should go to de nurse, yah?"

Bobby put a hand to Kouichi's forehead before he could object. "You're feeling kinda hot, pal."

"You make _ice_. Everybody's hot to you." Kouichi mumbled, and put his head back down on the desk.

"Mm-hm…" Bobby raised blonde eyebrow, then raised his hand. "Hey, teach? Kimura's sick. Kurt 'n' me are taking him to the nurse."

"No…Guys, really, I don't need…" Kouichi muttered in protest, but was cut off as Kurt seized one arm and Bobby grabbed the other. His fellow mutants-in-hiding hauled him to his feet and led him out the door to the nurse's office.

"You haff to take better care of vourself, yah?" Kurt said brightly. Kouichi could easily imagine his pointed blue ears wiggling cheerfully behind his hologram.

"Great…" Kouichi groaned, putting a hand to his forehead. "How come everybody's gotta tell me that?"

****

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

The mansion and grounds that made up the Charles Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters was pleasant, but because of the true nature of its selective student body and their 'extracurricular activities', it was also very secure. High gates, motion detectors, and hidden laser cannons programmed to attack at the very presence of a registered enemy's DNA.

However, all of it was deactivated by a simple scan of DNA at the front gate. Kouichi held perfectly still as the blue beam washed over him. There was a small click as the gate opened, and a computerized voice chirped: "Welcome. Home. Yin."

The high school student mumbled slightly, making his way up the front walk and drive to the mansion. As he entered the main hall, a soft, feminine voice spoke. "Hello, Kouichi. What are you doing back?"

He smiled up the stairs at the tall, graceful African woman coming towards him. He bowed slightly to her, trying to keep his balance even as his head swam. "Konichiwa, Arashi-sama." He muttered, switching into Japanese as he did sometimes when he wasn't feeling so hot.

"Konichiwa to you, too." Ororo Monroe, a.k.a. Storm, smiled at the boy and patted his shoulder. "Now how about telling me what you're doing back? School doesn't end for another two hours."

Kouichi shifted and reached into his pocket, digging out a slightly crumpled pink note. "The nurse…sent me home."

"I see." Ororo examined the note a moment, taking a step forward to put a hand on his forehead. "Hm…You do seam a bit warm. Does your head hurt at…?"

"Storm?" The boy cut her off suddenly, looking up at the taller woman like a scared puppy. "Can I talk to the Professor?"

Ororo was taken aback for two reasons. One, it was a very odd request for the circumstances, and two, Kouichi was and had always been _extremely_ polite, even for the Japanese, she'd never heard him interrupt anyone before.

"Well…I suppose." Her brow furled slightly in concern. "But Kouichi, whatever for?"

The boy looked up at her, his wide blue eyes moistened to the point of begging. "I think I need his help."

****

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

"I'm tellin' ya, Chuck, there's somethin' weird in the air." Logan muttered, pacing slightly in an anxious manner. "I don't know what it is, but something weird is going on…"

"I know precisely what you mean." Charles Xavier sighed, his dark eyes focused out the window on the grounds of his Institute. "There is an…odd aura gathering. Your instincts are sharp, Logan, that's how you can feel it. I wouldn't be surprised if a few of the students can sense it as well."

He glanced towards the door suddenly, and a moment later a warm smile slide over his face as he turned away from the window. "Excuse me, Logan, but I believe we're about to have a visitor."

Seconds later, there was a sharp, rapid knock, followed by a feminine voice. "Professor?"

"Come in, Storm." The man called warmly. "Both of you. Come on."

The door opened. Ororo quietly ushered in a rather distressed-looking Kouichi, who was staring at the carpeted floor nervously. Storm kept one hand on his shoulder supportively.

"Have a seat." Xavier motioned to a chair in front of his desk. The boy made his way over, bowing politely to Logan (who bowed slightly at the waist himself out of custom) before he sank down into the chair.

The gears of Professor X's motorized wheel chair whirred as he moved to face Yin with a kind smile. "Now then. What can I do for you, Kouichi?"

The boy shifted uneasily a moment before he spoke. "Professor…can you…look inside my mind?"

Xavier raised an eyebrow curiously. "Of course. You have experienced it before. But why would you ask?"

"I think…" The boy hesitated a moment before looking up somewhat desperately. "I think there's someone inside my head."

Logan and Ororo were instantly on alert, the feral man's body tensing like a coiled spring. The Professor remained calm, though concerned nonetheless. "What would make you think that, Kouichi?"

"I keep…hearing voices." Yin's arms shook slightly, pulling in to wrap around himself as though cold. "One voice, actually. Laughing at me…at Kouji and the others. He…it…talks to me, especially at night. And I've been having these terrible…awful dreams…"

He fell silent, hugging himself loosely. The Professor shared a worried glance with Ororo, then sighed.

"…All right then." He whispered, lifting his hands to rest his fingers lightly on the sides of Kouichi's head. "Just relax…"

The boy's eyes slid closed, his breathing slowing into a relaxing meditation pattern as the Professor reached out to tickle the edge of his consciousness, slowly and gently pushing his way deeper.

After a long while, Kouichi's breathing quickened and sweat began to trickle down his face. As Ororo watched, his closed eyes clenched together tightly, gasping and squirming as though frightened. "Professor…"

"I know, Storm." The man muttered. A trickle of sweat rolled down the side of his bald head, his own eyes closing in concentration. "I've found it…it won't be much longer now."

Kouichi's breathing became harsher, more ragged, his face more flushed, his fingers gripping the arm rest so tightly that his knuckles were white. Suddenly, he wrenched his head back with a cry as the Professor cut off the connection. For a moment he stared at the man, wide-eyed, then a small smile slid over his face seconds before he slumped.

"Kouichi!" Storm exclaimed, diving forward to see if the boy was all right. She found him physically unharmed, but completely unconscious.

"He's all right, Storm." The Professor sighed, mopping his own brow with a white handkerchief. "Just sleeping…It will take a short time for his mind to recover. Logan, if you would please take him to his room? I believe he could use the rest."

Wolverine shrugged and grunted, making his way over to the chair. He scooped the limp form into his arms and, after exchanging a knowing gaze with Charles, exited the room.

Ororo turned to the Professor, momentarily feeling oddly affronted. After her nephew, Evan, Yin was probably her favorite student at the Institute. His kind, caring nature made the mother in her delight, which explained when she currently felt as though the Professor had harmed one of her own.

"What did you do, Professor?"

Xavier sighed. "I erected a barrier within his mind. A mental blocker."

Ororo relaxed, pacified. "To keep the intruder out." She muttered in understanding. Of course, the Professor would never allow anything to harm one of his charges…

"No. To keep it in."

Red warning flags popped up in Storm's mind. "Keep it _in?_"

"Yes." The Professor looked…rather disturbed. "As I searched his mind, I discovered an…an alternate consciousness. Like a parasite, a mind that had permanently grafted itself to Kouichi's personality."

Ororo frowned worriedly. "But why contain it? If this is that…thing that Yang mentioned, we have to get it out of him! Don't tell me you don't have the power."

"Oh, I have the power." Charles looked at her quite seriously. "But the stress and pain of exhuming such a thing would make it impossible. If his mind didn't collapse from the tear…it would most certainly drive him utterly insane."

Storm felt a slight pang, followed by a wave of understanding. "…I see." She sighed, putting a relieved hand to her heart. "So you erected a barrier to keep…whatever it is…from getting out again."

"Indeed." The Professor smiled, nodding to the door. The woman nodded warmly and hurried to open it so she could wheel him out of the office. "Let us hope it will be enough…"

**__**

TBC…

Arashi-sama - 'Arashi' means storm in Japanese. '-sama' is a highly respectful ending. In other words, for Kouichi to call Storm 'Arashi-sama' means that he respects her very much. Perhaps even more than the Professor.


	2. Glimpses

BTW, thanks to all who gave me Magneto's true name. However, I'm on the computer without 'net connection as I type this, meaning that if I misspell the last name, oopsies-my-bad, so sorry.

**__**

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't.

****

The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk

Chapter 2: Glimpses

Kouji was in a bad mood.

His _slightly _protective nature when it came to his brother reared its stubborn head the moment he discovered that Kouichi was sick enough to be sent home and no one had bothered to tell him in time to walk his twin back to the Institute. Never mind that he'd be skipping class out of pure stubborn will.

Takuya, Bobby and Kurt had been expecting this, but that didn't mean they had to like it. Especially since they had to walk home with him, and run to keep up.

"Jeez, buddy!" Takuya gasped, finally catching up to his friend outside the Institute gate. Bobby scrambled up behind him, as Kurt took the opportunity of no one watching to bamph thirty feet and catch up with them. "I know you're worried and all, but you seriously need to chill!"

"Yeah." Bobby nodded vigorously. "He's just got a bit of a flu, that's all. A little under the weather."

Kouji scowled at them as the blue beam washed over him. It took in a very small sample of DNA electronically, as well as a slight reading of his facial features. It was from the light scar under his right eye that it identified him from his brother's exactly similar biological make-up, beeping, "Welcome. Home. Yang." as the gates swung open.

The group burst in the doors of the main hall to find Storm, Beast and the Professor talking at the base of the stairs as though waiting for them. Indeed, as the door opened, the group turned slightly to smile at them.

"Welcome home." The Professor nodded softly.

Kouji took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm. "Where's Kouichi?"

"In your room. Sleeping." Ororo said kindly, turning her head to one side just a bit. "He had quite a fever. A little rest will do him good."

Kouji sighed, somewhat mollified. The other three behind him also sighed, through theirs were with considerably more relief.

The Professor nodded, smiling at the emotions he was getting off of their collective minds. The sudden clam in a sea of turmoil was very relaxing, as mental waves go, and it helped soothe the headache he'd received erecting Kouichi's mental barrier.

Kouji, of course, made for the stairs, his mind completely taken up by the thought of checking up on his brother. The Professor caught his arm as he slipped past. "After you're finished there, I'd like a talk with you, Kouji." He said kindly. "Go put your concerns to rest, then please meet with me in my office. All right?"

The boy sighed, his mind breathing a sigh of relief. "…Yes, sir." He muttered, and hurried up to the room he shared with his brother.

****

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Some people would wonder why an obviously-over-the-hill man with snow-white hair would be standing by himself in the middle of the park, but nobody did. This had something to do with the large quantity of trees surrounding him, and the gloomy setting of the sun behind him, masking him from all but a scant few eyes.

The man's name was Eric Lansher, though he preferred the term 'Magneto'. He was waiting for someone, dressed almost completely in red, a special helmet over his head to protect his mind from 'prying eyes'.

After a moment a large, black raven fluttered down from the trees and landed beside him. He looked down at her and smiled a strangely crooked smile. "Good evening, Mystique."

The raven squirmed slightly and changed shape, stretching out and changing colors until it became a tall, blue-skinned woman with yellow eyes and bright red hair. Raven Darkholme, known better as the metamorphic Mystique, straightened and stood beside Magneto.

"Good evening, Eric." She said softly and curtly. "I trust you have a reason for calling me out here?"

"Indeed." Magneto was quite for a long while, looking out at the sunset as though contemplating his next words. "In regards to that boy of Charles's…the shadow-puppet… I believe there may have been a new revelation."

Mystique looked at her companion with a raised eyebrow as her only expression. "Has he gotten stronger?"

"Naturally enough, young mutants grow and develop like weeds." Eric said dismissively. "But it is wise to note that our little…problem…has grown stronger with him. Much stronger. The time is fast approaching for those who hide in shadow to make their move, as ordered."

Mystique allowed herself a soft frown. "You still intend to allow it to go through, then?"

"I do." Magneto turned from her, making his way back into the darkness of the trees. "Charles will understand, when the time comes. That boy must be a sacrifice for the good of us all."

****

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Kouji carefully eased the door open, peaking in to the darkened room. The curtains were tightly drawn, leaving on a bit of sunlight and a little silver of hall light to illuminate the room. It made him a little uncomfortable, but at the moment his own comfort mattered very little.

Silently, he made his way over to his brother's bedside. He couldn't help but smile at what he saw. It may have prompted a rather lot of teasing jokes from the others, but it always struck him as amazing how sweet and innocent his darker twin could be. That was one trait he knew they didn't share, leaving the more psychologically-based people such as Hank and Jean to mutter about paradoxes and the meaning behind darkness being more innocent than light.

It might have been a literary paradox, but it was true. It was also obvious, what with the way Kouichi curled up on himself like that when he slept, pulling the blankets right up to his chin and mumbling softly…

Kouji couldn't help but smile, reaching down to brush his brother's hair gently out of his face. He didn't feel hot, but that was no surprise. He'd figured when they walked in that Kouichi wasn't actually fever-sick, because every time either of them got a fever, they got it together. Other symptoms come and go, but they always got the same fever.

Kouichi shifted suddenly and open his eyes, looking up at him sleepily. "…Hi, Kouji."

"Hey." Kouji whispered, sitting next to him. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"Mm…no." Kouichi smiled softly. "I was just waiting for you to come back."

Kouji smiled as well. "How're you feeling?"

"Better." His twin sighed, snuggling back into the blankets. "The Professor helped a lot…I'm sorry if I worried you"

"Don't worry. You just get some sleep." Kouji soothed as he stood, running a hand through his brother's hair the way their mother used to when they were sick. "I need to go check in with the Professor…"

****

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

A crystal blue lake had formed in the depths of the cave. There was little to no light there, but what was there was reflected off the small, shining gems set into the walls and ceiling of the cave, making the entire room seam to be in a perpetually moonless night. It was only one of the many rooms in the extensive cave system, each specially carved and outfitted to suit its boarder.

This one was currently occupied by a lithe, short girl with blue-green hair and sea green eyes, swimming laps back and forth through the crystal clear lake. Her thin body made barely a ripple as she moved, and she never seamed to come up for a breath.

A new figure appeared at the door suddenly, a tall man with shining silver hair and pale blue eyes, wrapped in green and carrying a large, circular mirror. He stood at the opening of the cave, looking out at the huge lake and its occupant. After hovering there a moment, he made his way across a small outcrop of land to kneel down and speak to the woman.

"Aquani."

The girl looked up at him, revealing that her sea-green eyes had no whites, and that the pupils were unusually big, making her rounded face look vaguely like a frog's. She kicked off, bursting from the surface to land on the ground next to the man gracefully.

"Bein' awful formal, ain'tcha?" She asked perkily in a distinct southern belle. "Come'on, Marcus. We've known each other long enough for ya to call me by meh first name. It's Rana, 'member?"

'Marcus' frowned. "That is your human name, milady." He said simply, though it sounded much more complicated with his fine old English accent. "Ye know as well as I that while within the coils of our union, we shall address one enough by the true names of our mutant heritage. Thus, I shall address thee by thy true name, and ye shall call me properly."

"Whatever yeh say, 'Mercurious'." Aquani rolled her big eyes dramatically. "So? What's the damage, slick?"

A thin, eager grin slid over Mercurious's face. "Taper has informed me that our Lord is mere days from a full connection."

"Meaning?" Aquani's eyes lit up slightly in eagerness, knowing exactly what it meant.

"It meanth that soon, our Master shall return unto us, and his glorious dream will finally become reality."

"Oooh, goodie."

****

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Kouji sighed, hovering outside the large double doors that lead to the Professor's office. He didn't mind the man much at all, but after what had happened the first time he 'reached' into Kouichi's mind, he lost a certain amount of trust in their patron. It wasn't huge, mind you, but it was large enough that he would really rather not let the wheelchair-bound man touch him or his brother if he could help it…

A large hand suddenly descended on his shoulder, making him jump a foot. It was accompanied by a low voice. "You shouldn't just stand out in the hall, bub."

He spun around, looking up into Logan's face. Kouji sighed with obvious relief as Logan smirked down at him. The two, despite there being at least eight inches and a dozen years difference between them, had found each other to be useful as hand-to-hand (no claws) sparring partners. Or rather, Kouji found a teacher, while Logan discovered quite the eager little student.

Logan smirked down at Kouji and reached forward to open the door. As it swung in, the Professor's voice echoed out. "Ah, thank you, Logan. Kouji, I just beginning to wonder how much longer you would hover out there."

Kouji scowled at him as Logan smirked once more, taking his customary place against the wall by the door. Kouji stuffed his hands into his pockets and sauntered over to the chair in front of the Professor's next.

Professor X smiled at him warmly, making his way forward. "There's no need to bristle like that." He said, pausing in front of the boy and entwining his fingers. "I just need to speak to you a moment…it's about your brother."

Kouji's mind immediately shot to defense. The Professor waved him down gently. "It's all right, he's not in any sort of trouble." He sighed wearily. "Nor are you. I simply need a little more information so I can figure out what has been afflicting him so."

"He's sick." Kouji muttered crossly.

"You don't believe that." The Professor smiled knowingly, tapping his bald forehead. "And neither do I. He is not ill, as you well know, at least, not in the traditional sense. There is something else, something foreign, which is plaguing his mind."

Kouji shifted uncomfortably as the man went on, a bit more intensely. "We suspect that something…unusual or unfortunate must have occurred prior to his coming here to cause such a thing. Can you think of anything at all that you would find… strange?"

Kouji scowled and glared at the man stubbornly, refusing to open his mouth. Logan shook his head, finding that particular reaction to be very self-reflective.

The Professor leaned slowly forward. "Please, Kouji, there is no reason to be defensive. I want to help him as much as you do. But we need to know everything we can. If you can remember anything about it, please, just tell us."

The weight of the two adults' stares became slightly heavier, one from the front and the other from behind. Kouji scowled a little more, shifting to stare stubbornly at a far corner, before he finally sighed and muttered. "He disappeared once, when we were kids."

"Disappeared?" The Professor asked, as Logan raised a curious eyebrow.

"We were three. Mom told me 'bout it." Kouji muttered sourly, still refusing to look. "He wandered off on his own in the park one day and just…vanished. Into thin air. The police tore the place apart, couldn't find a sign of him. It was in the papers and everything; 'Toddler vanishes from family outing'. Mom and Dad were going nuts. Then he just turned up again, about a week later. He wandered into a convenience store in Nerima-ku and asked why his picture was in the window. Couldn't figure out how to get home. Didn't remember anything 'bout where he'd gone. He was hungry and little scraped up, but otherwise…he was fine. Nothing happened."

"He jumped over three districts without knowing how and the police didn't think anything happened?" Logan asked incredulously.

"They never found any proof. He wasn't even hurt." Kouji sighed with some sort of patience. "Besides, it's not like I can remember the details. We were three."

The professor steepled his fingers thoughtfully. "…I see." He said softly, closing his eyes a moment, then looking up over them again. "Is that all?"

"Yes." Kouji's narrowed eyes dared the man to try to wheedle out anything else.

Xavier, however, already had as much as he needed. "All right then. You may go."

**__**

TBC…

Yeah! I get to use Rana-san again! I'm not so fond of her in the series, but I just loooove writing Ranamon, especially her accent. It's a ball. She's just so fun to work with.

'Mercurious' is a form of 'Mercury' in Latin. I didn't use Mercury as a name because there's already a Quicksilver. (They're the same substance)

With Kouji's inborn honor and samurai-esque pride seam like perfect reasons for him to look up to Logan. Besides, Logan is as far from his father (whom I imagine to be a rather bureaucratic, serious person) as possible, and I get the feeling that Kouji isn't particularly fond of him. Kouichi, on the other hand, is much more thoughtful and even a bit feminine, having been raised in a matriarchal family. It's natural for him to admire Ororo, especially since he's more used to having a strong female to look up to.


	3. Nighttime

I've figured out what it is that attracts me so much about _Evolution_: It allows the X-men to be in their OWN universe, not the Marvel Comics Universe. Seriously, that's what I hate about American comics. If you read one series from a certain publisher you're expected to know details from a dozen other books and adventures, just to figure out why the characters act the way they do! I mean, honestly, there are dozens of X-Men characters alone, isn't it enough just to keep THEM straight without having to worry about Dark Angel, Spider Man and the Fantastic Four? It's a pain in the butt. At least in anime, when you pick up a series you're only expected to worry about the history of THAT series. Evolution is the same way. And that's why I like it.

That, and the animation of the original X-Men cartoons makes me seriously consider jabbing my eyes out with a dull pencil.

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 3: Nighttime**

Ororo took a deep breath of the wonderfully-scented air of the Institute's roof-top garden room/sun porch. It was a beautiful view, amplified by the dozens of well-tended potted plants that hung from the ceiling or filled the many shelves around the edges of the walls. Right now, the view was even better, as the sun had just begun to set in the distance.

The door opened suddenly, and a soft voice reached her ear. "Good evening, Arashi-sama."

"Oh…Yin!" Storm turned to find the teen approaching her with a small smile. "Well, hello. What are you doing up and about?"

Kouichi smiled quietly, approaching the woman. "We have a session tonight, Arashi-sama. Over focus and meditation."

Ororo smiled awkwardly. She had, in worry of everything that had happened two days ago, completely forgotten about her weekly one-on-one session with the young boy. "Are you sure you're up to it?" She asked kindly. "You only just recovered this morning, it could be a strain…"

"I want to." Kouichi grinned up at her in a way that was far too adorable for a teenage boy. "I really do. Please, Arashi-sama?"

Storm couldn't help but sigh. "All right then." She took her seat on one of the pillows, waiting for Yin to settle in across from her. "Let's get started, then. Close your eyes and take a deep breath…"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Mercurious raised a green-gloved hand slightly to shield his eyes against the last glares of the sun setting in the distance. There was only a few more moments left to the daylight, and already the light woods he and his companion had concealed themselves in were already filled with variations of deep, dark shadows.

He glanced at his teammate in the reflection of his glassy, mirror-like shield. She was quite a bit younger than him, one of the newer recruits, a teenage girl with long, blonde hair and big green eyes. She had the potential to be quite cute, he supposed, but he didn't have much opinion on such matters. She was dressed in her 'uniform', but it was quite different from Mercurious's own royal, green design. Hers was a long-sleeved purple shirt, which was cut short to show her navel, a knee-length purple skirt and blue stockings under purple boots.

Her name, that is, her mutant name was Zephyr. Her former name…he could care less.

"Art thou ready?" He asked her in a soft voice.

She nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Good." Mercurious reached into the folds of his robe to remove a small walkie-talkie from a hidden pocket. "Aquani. Everyone is in position?"

"Right as rain, sugar," came the perky southern drawl, "When're we gonna get to it? Arbor is getting on my nerves."

"Patience, Milady." Mercurious grinned softly, watching the horizon as the sun's light was reduced to a thin line of white. "We go at my mark…"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Takuya lounged on the living room couch, flipping his lighter open and closed boredly. Bobby was stretched out on the floor beneath him, flipping idly through a surfing magazine that Scott's younger brother had left the last time he visited. Rouge was curled up in the arm-chair nearby, apparently asleep. Kouji was in the window, one leg pulled up as the other dangled off the seat, staring out the window at the dark, glassy night sky that was stretching out to the horizon. He seamed deep in thought, but that was no surprise, he did that a lot.

Takuya's thumb moved to the wheel of the lighter, pushing down the safety latch as he did. But before he could spark it, Rouge's voice suddenly floated over. "Don't even thank about it, Sparky."

Flare scowled at her, snapping the lighter closed. "I thought you were asleep."

"Looks can be deceivin'." Rouge muttered, and rolled over.

In the window, Kouji's shoulders suddenly raised slightly as his body tensed. Almost automatically, in a well-trained gut reaction, a ball of light formed in his hand.

The small flash drew Bobby's attention, and he sat up. "What's up, Kouji?"

"There's something out there." Kouji's blue eyes narrowed slightly, glaring at something in the darkness. "Something's coming."

Rouge uncurled from her spot as Bobby climbed to his feet and Takuya jumped off the couch. The boys hurried across the room to look over Kouji's shoulders, out into the dark grounds of the Institute.

"…I don't see anything." Bobby muttered. "You sure you saw something?"

Before anyone could respond, the alarms suddenly sounded up, the whole of the building and grounds being filled with the flashing on and off of bright red lights. In the flashing, they could see not just one, but several shadowed shapes moving in from the wooded grounds.

"That prove it?" Kouji snapped, and opened the window to jump out, with Bobby, Rouge and Takuya right on his heels.

There were three figures coming from this side, stepping into the light one by one. The first was a small, demure woman with a rounded face and big green eyes, dressed entirely in light folds of blue that curved under her like a swimsuit. Beside her was a gargantuan, towering man, at least twice the size of any of them, with broad shoulders and a wide head, covered sparsely with dark brown, spiky hair over small, beady eyes. He wore various shades of browns and greens, and looked about as friendly as a brick wall. To the other side was a much smaller figure, a boy, with brown hair and green eyes, dressed in pale shades of orange and blue. He seamed much more subdued than his fellows, both of whom were smiling broadly like animals on the hunt. Rather, he seamed to be hesitant as to whether or not he should be here.

Takuya flipped the lighter into one hand, glaring at the intruders. "What do you think you're doing here?"

The woman smirked. "Why, sugar, that's a rather stupid question, ain't it?" She waved her finger in a tut-tut manner. "Why would we go an' tell you somethin' like that?"

"Guess that means we'll have to force it outta yah, huh?" Bobby cracked his knuckles experimentally. His hand shot forward after a moment, ushering a stream of ice.

The woman in blue jumped, waving her hands as she did. A spout of water, from a burst mane or something of the like, erupted from the ground beneath her to give her and extra push as she leapt back. It froze into a sort of slide of ice protruding up from the ground.

"Oooh, looks like we've got an ice-er on our hands." The woman giggled, sliding down the ice. "Care to show 'em how it's done, little Yuki?"

The smaller boy nodded at her, then locked his eyes on Bobby. He twisted his arm back in a pitch, but when he threw there was not just one, but dozens of huge snowballs of rapidly increasing size came barreling out.

"What the heck?" Bobby exclaimed, just before he was barreled over.

Rouge ducked under the sudden hail of snow, noticing something strange. "Flare, watch out! The ground!"

Takuya jumped just in time to avoid the vines that shot from the earth. The huge man in brown laughed, digging his huge hands and thick fingers further into the ground to twist the vines around. "Not so tough now, eh?" He said in a heavy, stupid-sounding accent. "Think you can handle this?"

"No problem." Takuya snapped his lighter open, summoning a ball of fire into his hand. With a twist of his wrist in the pitch it turned into a whip-like tongue of flame, catching the vines ablaze almost instantly.

A gust of water shot out from the little woman, dousing Takuya's flames. "Ya'll gonna haf'ta do better than that, sugar."

Takuya growled. "Hey, Rouge!" He shouted over his shoulder. "See if you can't get your hands on the little lawn sprinkler!"

"You got it." Rouge nodded, and set off.

Bobby groaned, facing off with the snowball-flinging child as he readied another barrage. "Man, this is gonna be tough…"

An explosion on the other side of the yard drew their attention, a noise like crashing rocks. "Looks like we're not the only ones dealing with this." Takuya muttered. "I wonder how many there are."

Kouji hissed slightly, slicing through vines with his blade of light. "Nii-san… He's gotta be okay…"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

The rear half of the building was almost deserted, all of the X-Men having rushed to defend the front from the sudden onslaught. Fortunately or unfortunately, the back stairs were the only way to get down from the rooftop garden, leaving Kouichi and Ororo having to make their way through the house to the sounds of attacks and explosions.

"It's getting worse…" Ororo looked to the ceiling as an especially loud attack shook the whole building. "We have to hurry!"

Kouichi's face was twisted slightly in worry as they ran. "I hope everyone else is all right."

A low laughter from in front of them stopped both mutants in their tracks. "Me thinks thou shall be better of thinking of yourselves."

Storm slid instantly into an aggressive defense as Yin curled into a more subtle one. From around the corner stepped two figures. The one who had spoken was a tall man with white-blonde hair, dressed entirely in green and carrying a reflective shield on his arm, while the other was a blonde girl about Kouichi's age, dressed in purple.

Storm bristled all over. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Who we are is of no consequence to you, milady." Hissed the man smoothly. "And our business is our own."

"Not in my home!" Storm's eyes began to glow a bright electric blue. Around them, the contained air began to rustle and move with the powers of the weather-controller, building quickly into a ferocious gale. "Kouichi, hold onto something! Get down!"

The boy quickly obeyed, grabbing onto a piece of decorative wooden outcrop with both hands to keep from being blown away. Neither of the strangers seamed to dub such methods necessary, however, as they both simply remained right where they were, even as the winds grew to hurricane-force.

"Such a bother." The man sighed. "Zephyr, I do believe this is your area of specialty."

The girl stepped forward, spreading her arms as she did. The stream of air parted as she stepped forward, like a river around a large stone. Storm's eyes widened. "What the…?"

The man smirked at her. "Did you really believe you were the only one with such powers?"

The girl's hands swirled and moved, and as they did the air curved into a sort of ball, right in the center of a mini-tornado. With a concentrated breath and a swift movement of her arms she sent the attack forward, bursting through Storm's wall of wind.

The female X-Men, taken by surprise and still in a certain about of shock from realization of the girl's powers, took the full brunt of the attack head-on. The ball of wind burst with the sound of an 18-wheller slamming into a brick wall, the resulting burst of energy throwing Storm back ten feet and slamming into the wall.

"Arashi-sama!" Kouichi cried, abandoning his place and racing over to her. The dark-skinned woman was barely conscious, having hit her head rather hard on the wall. "Arashi-sama…Storm…Wake up!"

The man in green laughed softly. "Such a mess." He laughed softly. "Shall we clean it up a bit, Zephyr?"

"Whatever you say." The girl said softly. Her gentle blue-eyed gaze turned to a small pile of debris that had fallen in Storm's assault. The wind lifted them up piece by piece, holding them level as she aimed to fire them as harsh projectiles.

Kouichi reacted instantly, forming the shield of shadows around himself and Storm to deflect them harmlessly to the ground.

The green-robed man raised an eyebrow. "Well, well…"

"Mercurious?" The girl asked hesitantly, drawing back. "What…?"

"It seams…" The man stepped forward determinedly. "That we have found exactly what we came for, Zephyr."

Kouichi's stance tightened slightly. "I won't let you hurt her!" He insisted, planting himself between Storm and their attackers. The darkness around him began to writhe and swirl with his energy, riled up by the intrusion upon his safety. "You don't belong here! Get _out_!"

"Oh, we'll leave." Mercurious hissed, the grin never leaving his face as he raised his shield. "But not alone, My Lord."

The Darkness lashed out like a lion, lunging at the two intruders savagely. Mercurious, however, was not fazed, not even as the darkness collided with the metal of his shield with a loud _clang_…

…And passed straight through it to disappear without a trace, as though nothing had ever happened.

Kouichi took a step back. "Wh-What?"

Mercurious smirked at him, lifting the shield in a different manner this time. "Ready? I wonder if you can handle your own power turned against you."

The mirror flashed and the darkness shot from it, on a reverse course this time. The boy barely had time to raise his arm in defense before he was lifted off the ground by swirling darkness, thrown back by his own force into the wall with a sickening _THUMP_.

A slight gasp escaped Kouichi's lips as his head struck the wall hard, then another as he was suddenly released. He dropped limply to the floor, groaning painfully before his eyes closed.

"Yin…" Storm moaned, pulling herself up on her elbows to reach out to the boy. "Yin…No, Yin…"

"Fear not, milady." Mercurious stepped over her coolly, approaching the unconscious boy. With one swift motion, he'd scooped Kouichi up into one arm and slung him over a green-robed shoulder like a sack of potatoes, holding the much smaller form easily around the waist. "My Lord will not be harmed. We are simply returning him to his proper place."

"No…" Storm groaned, her head starting to spin again. "Let him go…Yin!"

Mercurious paid her no mind, crossing back down the hall which he had come and brushing past the blonde girl. "Come, Zephyr."

"But…" The wind-master looked after him hesitantly, glancing at Storm. "But we can't just leave her here!"

"Indeed we can." Cold blue eyes focused on Zephyr with an icy glare. "They have asked us to leave, milady. It would be rude not to do as they have asked."

The blonde glanced over her shoulder once more, then sighed. "Yes, sir." She muttered, and followed after him.

Storm groaned painfully once more, gazing after them desperately just before her mind slid away into the darkness of sleep once again.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Professor X sighed, making his way slowly along the curved walk in front of his Institute. The sun was rising in the East, but no one in the building had gotten the rest they would otherwise need. Half of the night had been spent fighting the mysterious mutant onslaught that had appeared and disappeared without any explanation of their intrusion, and the other half had been spent the same way they were now…cleaning up and hiding the evidence from prying eyes.

"Is everyone accounted for, Jean?" He asked softly, approaching the red-haired telepath.

Jean Grey turned from where she had been speaking to Scott. Cyclops, acknowledging that their conversation was over, returned to his job of blasting away debris with his focus beams.

"Just about, Professor." Jean sighed, brushing her hair back. "We just found Flare, Spike and Yang a little while ago. They're getting checked out by Beast. The only ones we're missing right now are Storm and Yin…"

Professor X raised an eyebrow. "We still haven't found Ororo and Kouichi?"

"No, sir." Jean shook her head. "But the cameras caught them in one of their meditation sessions on the roof, so we know they were out of harm's way for most of the fight."

"…Indeed." The Professor's faces twisted slightly in thought. "Though, still… You do have an odd feeling about this, don't you, Jean?"

The redhead shifted slightly. "Well…sir, that is…"

"Of course she does, Charles. You do as well."

The group gave a collective jump, many of those scattered around pausing in their work to look up. Logan, in particular, stopped and growled softly, coming to Xavier's side to glare up at the red-cloaked figure lowering himself down from the sky, accompanied by a tall, blue-skinned woman with red hair. Both were smirking confidently, even as the silver platform they were standing on landed and vanished back into the small ball of metal that flew into the man's hand.

"Magneto." Scott sneered.

"And Mystique." Added Jean in a cold, harsh tone.

The blue-skinned mutant batted her yellow eyes at them, then turned to Xavier, as did Magneto. The bald man narrowed his eyes at the visitors. "Why are you here, Eric? Did you have something to do with this?"

"Nothing at all." The magnetically-powered mutant grinned icily. "I'm just here for the end of the show, Charles. To give you a little healthy advice."

"Advice on what?" Logan growled, but a wave from the Professor calmed him.

Professor X looked up at the red-dressed man. "Were those mutants last night your doing?"

"Not mine." Magneto's gaze traveled over the fine building's battle scars contemplatively. "The ones who attacked you are not under my command. Their goal was neither your precious institute nor your dear students…or should I say, not all of your students."

"What do you mean?" Professor X silently cursed the intrusion-proof helmet worn by his one-time companion. "What are trying to start here, Eric?"

"Start, Charles?" Magneto's eyes held the expression of a cat about to snag a particularly tasty mouse. "Why, it has already begun, right under your nose. You haven't even realized that one of your precious X-Men holds the key to it all."

Charles narrowed his eyes. "What are you getting at, Eric?" He asked, slowly and evenly, but before the red-cloaked mutant could answer another voice rang out.

"Professor!"

There was a flutter of wind and a certain dark-skinned woman dressed in white landed in a miniature tornado. Jean breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, Storm! Thank goodness!"

"We were worried about you." Scott added.

Ororo didn't pay any attention to them, her blue eyes wide and frantic as she raced towards Charles. "Professor! Professor, it's terrible!"

"What is it, Storm?" Professor X asked seriously, turning to her.

"It's Yin!" Storm exclaimed desperately. "Those mutants that attack us, they took Yin! They've taken him away, Professor!"

Xavier's eyes widened slowly as he turned towards Magneto. The magnetically-powered mutant smiled coldly at him, the expression mirrored by Mystique as she set one hand loosely on his shoulder.

"As I told you, Charles." Whispered Magneto. "It has already begun."

_**TBC…**_

'Zephyr'…who I know you all know who she really is, but since I know some people who wouldn't I'm going to keep it a secret…doesn't control the weather like Storm. She does, however, have control over wind. And don't worry about her and 'Yuki' it'll all work out.

'Yuki' is Japanese for 'Snow', BTW.


	4. Dusk

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 4: Dusk**

The atmosphere of the Institute's living room was tense, to say the very least.

Magneto seamed calm enough, sitting in a straight-backed leather armchair with Mystique at his side, both holding cool, intensely calculated smiles on their lips. Across from them sat the X-Men, all wearing varying expressions of stern anxiety. Kouji had taken his normal place in the windowsill, with Takuya next to him and Bobby on the floor, leaning against the wall. Professor Xavier sat dead center of the group, his blue eyes locked on Magneto unbrokenly.

"What is going on here, Eric?" The Professor asked again, keeping his voice at an even keel.

"As I said, Charles." Magneto took a long sip of a small cup of tea Jean had prepared, on the Professor's orders. "Those mutants who attacked you last night were not under my command, but under that of another."

"Who?" Xavier bristled slightly with the collective frustrated and angry emotions of all the others. "And what do they want with Yin?"

Magneto looked at him expressionlessly over the tea cup. A slightly cold smile adorned his lips as he leaned back with a light sigh. "Tell me, Charles, do you recall hearing of a mutant in the generation just after our own, one who chose to call himself by the name 'Dusk'?"

"Yes, I do recall hearing something." The Professor frowned softly. "But he was defeated, was he not, by the time you and I met all those years ago. He was killed."

"Indeed." Magneto chuckled softly, his smirk reading that he was hiding something.

Kurt's ears twitched slightly in confusion. "Dusk?"

"Who's that, Professor?" Scott crossed his arms over his chest. "You never told us about that."

Professor X sighed softly, his blue eyes holding a very calm, strange expression. "Dusk was a very powerful mutant, one who was only a few years younger than Magneto or myself." He said softly, as though struggling to remember. "His mutant ability gave him the power to create Dark Matter, and to control it…"

Jean blinked, confused. "Dark matter?"

"It's really more of a theory." Beast pushed his glasses up his furry blue nose. "Supposedly, microscopic particles of unidentifiable or 'dark' matter exist in the gaps between all real matter, especially in space. The particles pass through everything, but nothing can get through them. Not even light."

"Indeed." Professor X sighed, closing his eyes slightly. "Dusk could those particles to create entirely new objects, new forms of matter all together. He could have been a great boon to scientific advancement. But I'm afraid that he was…misguided."

"'Misguided' indeed." Magneto finished his cup, setting it on the table. "Dusk sought to make the world the way he longed for it to be."

Ororo frowned softly, her attractive, dark face curved into a slight frown. "A mutant extremist?"

Logan sniffed. "Sounds like you, Magneto."

Magneto and Mystique both glared at him. "I should hope not." The silver-haired mutant's tongue was laced with a harsh edge. "Dusk was driven not for his love of mutants, nor by his distrust for humans. He was driven only by his hatred for the light."

That got everyone's attention. Kouji, especially, suddenly sat up straighter. "What'd he have against light?" Demanded Yang, feeling slightly affronted.

"Yeah, I mean what kinda freak acts like that?" Takuya flipped open the lighter, then closed it again.

The Professor cleared his throat, pulling attention to himself again. "As an after-result of his powers, Dusk was extremely photosensitive, and the condition grew worse as he aged. Eventually, he had to resort to a nocturnal lifestyle in order to avoid the immense pain."

Magneto nodded, a strange smile on his face as he turned to Kouji. "I understand your brother is rather sensitive to the light as well, am I correct?"

"Uh…yeah." Kouji glared at the man, bristling all over. "Kouichi's been touchy about too much light since we were kids. If there's even a bit, he can't get to sleep. So what?"

Magneto just nodded, as though his questions had been answered with that one phrase.

Rouge sighed, blowing up her bleached-white bangs. "Keep goin', Professor. What'd the freak try to do about it?"

Xavier sighed, looking somewhat disturbed. "…Dusk had accumulated a decent amount of followers by the time anyone realized he was a threat. There is an entire sub-class of mutants who are photosensitive or in other ways hurt by the presence of light. Dusk had rallied many of those mutants together behind him, and constructed a plan that would have satisfied them all…but only them."

"What do you mean?" Jean asked, running her hands through her long red hair nervously.

"By combining his powers with that of an enhancement machine similar to Cerebro…" Magneto paused, almost dramatically. "Dusk planned to cover the sky in Dark Matter and block out the sun itself."

"That's crazy!" Bobby exclaimed.

"There's no way anybody could have survived that!" Kitty shrieked, covering her mouth in shock. "Everybody would starve!"

"Not everyone." The Professor sighed. "Dusk had accumulated some sort of underground power source, one that could support plants and animals as well as powering any sort of machine. He planned on extending that to the few people he considered worthy, and leaving everyone else to fend for themselves."

Ororo put a hand to her lips. "Awful."

The Professor nodded. "Which is precisely why a group of mutants from inside his division banned together to get rid of him, just before his plan could be put into place."

"We were not among them, of course." Magneto added as a side. "But we did come to know them, in later years. They were the ones who told us of a fantastic struggle between their fraction and the ones still loyal to Dusk. It ended, eventually, with his ultimate defeat…"

"And his murder." The Professor scowled.

"It was, as I remember, a necessary accident." Magneto sniffed. "One of the mutants who reached him had no choice. It was either allow him to go through with his plot, or remove his soul from his body. The choice, as I would assume, was obvious."

"That is beside the point, Eric." The Professor's tone became serious and almost harsh. "You've yet to tell us what this has to do with the attack last night, or with…"

"With your dear student's disappearance?" Magneto smirked. "Yes, what on earth could a long-dead mutant mastermind have to do with your sweet little shadow-puppet? Yin, wasn't it?"

Kouji growled low in his throat, tensing all over. Logan shot the boy a 'don't do anything stupid' look, though he seamed more than ready to take Magneto down himself.

The silver-haired mutant just chuckled softly, as did Mystique beside him. "You certainly are entertaining sometimes." The silver-haired man laughed softly. "And to think, after all this you haven't even realized the connection yet."

"_What_ connection?" Scott hissed venomously.

Magneto smiled coolly at him. "As I said, Dusk's soul was removed from his body and thought to be lost. However, he had a mutant on his side who had similar psychic abilities to the one who had removed his soul. That mutant, along certain others who still remembered Dusk's old mission, managed to keep his soul safe until he could return to the world of the living."

"But that's not possible." Professor X shook his head. "The only way I can think of for a spirit to return after something like that is to…to…"

A dawning expression suddenly spread over his face. Magneto smirked and finished for him: "To implant the spirit into the blankness of an undeveloped mind. Eventually, the development will fuse the new addition into the original core."

Ororo took a deep breath. "It can't be."

"It can." Mystique grinned icily.

"And it is." Magneto folded his hands. "The mutants waited until they could find a young mutant child whose mind was just young enough for the implant to work. What's more, they waited until they could find one who one of their own could predict would develop the same powers as their master."

"If that's what you're implying, you're sadly mistaken." Xavier muttered. "Kouichi's abilities have nothing to do with Dark Matter…"

"…_Yet_." Magneto said matter-of-factly. "But you see, my dear Charles, Dusk's abilities began at a very simply stage: controlling the minute particles of the shadows to move the darkness to his bidding. You of all people should know how powers can develop once one knows his potential."

The room's tension had raised to an almost unbearable level. Kouji's arms was shaking slightly, his fists in a tight grip, his teeth set harshly in fury. The others were glaring at the intruders just a fiercely, a broiled sort of anger and confusion melded into convection around them.

The Professor forced his mind to remain calm. "What are you suggesting we do to stop this, Eric?"

Magneto reached into his cape, removing a small diskette which he pushed across the coffee table to Hank. "I have here the exact coordinates of Dusk's former headquarters, where we are assuming he and his followers have returned. I suggest a combined effort against these opponents, for the good of mutants and humans all."

"Something sounds suspicious…" Bobby muttered.

"What about Kouichi?" Kouji pressed sharply, his eyes narrowing.

Magneto turned to the Professor simply with an unreadable expression on his face. "You know as well as I do, Charles, there is only one way to get rid of a personality once it has been ingrained."

"There isn't a way." Professor X frowned. "You can only contain it."

"Oh, but containing it won't be enough." Magneto laughed softly. "He'd only escape once again. With the soul-carrier who retrieved Dusk's spirit all those years ago long dead, getting rid of Dusk now would end the problem forever, wouldn't it?"

"But you can't _do_ that Eric." Charles hissed softly. "Not without…"

"Not without killing the host." Magneto said coolly, and the group burst into angered shouts.

"You can't _do_ that!" Takuya shouted, jumping to his feet.

"No _way_!" Kitty shrieked.

"Are vou crazy?"

Kouji leapt up, his entire body tense as he glared at Magneto harshly. He looked about to charge him, but held back as Logan brought one barely-steadied hand down on his shoulder.

The Professor raised his hands, excluding just a little bit of mental prowess to calm the room into silence. "That is not an option." He turned to face Magneto once again. "There must be another way to solve this, Eric. And we will find it."

"Do what you will, Charles." Magneto stood, his long cape sweeping dramatically behind him. "I, however, will prevent Dusk's return by whatever regrettable means necessary. Good day, Charles."

He and Mystique left, leaving behind a very confused group of X-Men.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

His head spun in pain, small lights dancing in front of his eyes. He closed them a bit tighter, then cracked them open hesitantly, expecting searing light…but found nothing. His vision cracked into a dark room, with only the minutest bit of light illuminating the shadows around him.

"Hey, the kid's wakin' up, yeah." A heavy, stupid-sounding voice announced from a huge shadow to his right.

Another voice chimed in, even less educated and rougher on the ears. "The boy-master is awake, Mercurious. Boy-master awake!"

"Now, Grumble, Arbor, do behave yourselves." Came an all-too recognizable Shakespearian accent. "After all, this child is none other than our great Master reborn."

Kouichi snapped his eyes wide open, gazing around him fearfully. He was surrounded by shadowed figures, just barely illuminated. The mutants who had attacked the mansion, he was sure, including the green-robed mirror-wielder and the girl who'd gone up against Storm. They were all rather close to him, making his first reaction to pull back, but found that impossible, as he couldn't move.

He was sitting in what appeared to be a large, black throne, in the middle of a room that was almost completely dark, except for an inexplicable blue light that radiated from far below the pedestal on which they were gathered. His arms were bolted down to the armrests, chained there to keep him from moving. His now-familiar X-Men uniform was missing, replaced by a classy outfit that seamed ready for an opera, a tuxedo shirt, pants, boots, gloves, and a cape, all in pure black.

His head snapped back up as the green-robed mutant approached him, bowing low. "Good evening, My Lord." His silky British tongue had an edge of excitement to it. "I trust thy sleep has been a good one."

Kouichi took in a sharp breath, his throat dry and rather painful to speak against. "Wh-Who are you?"

"Oh, pooh." The little blue girl with her heavy western accent blinked at him curiously. "It seams he's still stuck somewhere. Good thing Grumble-bums thought to tie 'im down, eh?"

"When animal tries run away, you tie it down. Same with people. We beat process." From the sound of the hunched-over little brown man, he was neither used to English nor properly educated in whatever langue he'd learned in the first place.

Another worried noise came from a much smaller shadow, a young boy from what Kouichi could tell. "But…But I thought he was supposed to be awake by now!"

"Maybe we got the wrong one…" Whispered a female voice, and Kouichi recognized it as the girl from the mansion, the blonde wind-user.

"No." Whispered a soft voice. A new figured stepped forward, into the faint light so that Kouichi could see her. She was a small woman, even tinier than Aquani, rather mousy-looking with a slightly stretched face, wide purplish-blue eyes and dusty brown hair. "This is the one. I'd recognize his distinct mental pattern anywhere."

Mercurious turned to the woman sharply. "Then what, prey tell, is the problem, Taper?"

The woman tut-tutted at him, leaning forward until she was almost nose-to-nose with the boy. Kouichi pulled his head back as best he could, wincing from being in such close facility with a stranger, but she kept her unblinking eyes locked on him.

"It seams…the Xavier man as erected a barrier." She whispered softly, her gray-gloved hands hovering inches from the boy's forehead. "Some sort of…field…It's keep our Master locked within this boy's mind."

"So what now?" Asked the little boy, blinking up at them.

"Patience, Yuki." Mercurious muttered to him, though his eyes were narrowed as well. "Tell me, Taper. Is there a way to rectify this situation."

"Indeed." The woman slowly reached up to pull the glove off her right hand. "But it will take time, and patience. Is that understood?"

There was a slight murmur of accent from the group. Taper turned back to the boy, her now-bared fingers stretching out for his face.

Kouichi pulled back, struggling against the cuffs on his hands. If there was one thing he'd learned after three month at the Institute, it was that some mutants had their covers for a _reason_. There were several of them who, like Rouge, honestly didn't mean to hurt anyone, but making skin-to-skin contact with a mutant like her was the last thing you wanted to do.

"No…No, please." He muttered, pressing against the edge of the chair as the fingers grew closer. "Stay away!"

"Now now." Aquani giggled, ushering Arbor, Grumble and Yuki out the door. "No reason to fight, sugar."

Mercurious swept a rather confused Zephyr out after them, pausing to glance back at the woman and her captive. "We shall leave thee to thy work, Taper." He said royally, drawing his mirrored shield up in a kind of salute. "And we shall wait with baited breath for the return of Our Lord to his rightful place."

The door closed behind him sharply, mere seconds before the uncovered fingers touched bare flesh and the screaming began.

_**TBC…**_

A mutant extremist is one who believes mutants to be a superior race, vaguely similar to the sentiments of the Death Eaters in _Harry Potter_…NO! No, bad muse! No crossover! Not another one!

Everything Hank said about Dark Matter is true, except for maybe the line about nothing passing through it. I don't know about that, but they've never actually found any, so I'm taking some creative liberties.

The mutant 'sub-classes' are something I came up with. So far, my list includes Physical Mutants (those who only have to touch someone for their abilities to work, like Rouge), Visible Mutations (such as Kurt and Hank's blue-furred variety), Ocular Mutants (Scott) and Nocturnal Mutants, who are loosely based on the Nightbreeds of Static Shock. (Hey, different publisher)

Because I have no other time to mention it, 'Taper's full name is 'Dream Taper'. Basically, she has immense psychic powers that originally manifested in dreams, and now render themselves nearly as strong as Professor X's. Her name also comes from 'Tapir' like 'Tapirmon', which is who she'd based on. Weird, eh?


	5. What's In A Name

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 5: What's In A Name**

His mind was screaming.

Kouichi groaned, rolling his aching head against the cool, black-obsidian throne behind him in an attempt to quell the painful thumping. Taper, the witch who'd done this to him, had left for now…she'd said something about the strain being too much for his mind to handle, accidentally snapping neuron connections that would inhibit his muscle movement if they weren't given time to strengthen themselves. Of course, she hadn't stopped because she was concerned for _him_. She'd only wanted to make sure that her 'master's body was at its full potential.

As such, she'd retreated away from the platform about an hour ago, leaving him chained to listen to the low laughter beginning to echo from the depths his head.

A new presence suddenly registered in his consciousness…No, two of them… somewhere around him in the darkness. He didn't want to open his eyes, didn't want to know who it was. It was probably Mercurious and Taper, back to subject him to more of his torture…

"Here." A thin, lithe hand took his chin gently, guiding his lips to something smooth, rounded and plastic. "Drink this."

Kouichi's eyes snapped open despite himself. The blonde girl from the mansion… he could see now, up close, that she was actually very pretty…was trying to lead him to a plastic cup held out by the small, brown-haired boy.

"It's good water, I promise!" Piped the little boy, his large orange hat slipping over his eyes a bit. "It'll make you feel better, I think…"

Kouichi hesitated a moment, unsure if he should trust him…after all, these two had willingly attacked the place he'd called home for three months…but his raging thirst won out and he leaned forward to accept the drink. The little boy smiled broadly and lifted the glass to help the liquid slide down his throat until it had disappeared.

Kouichi pulled back with a sigh, his head thumping against the back of the chair gratefully. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The blonde's pale cheeks flushed slightly, flattered.

Kouichi blinked at them sleepily, clearing his mind. A single idea popped into his mind, so he decided to act on it. "I'm Kouichi."

"What?" Asked the little boy, pulling back.

"Kouichi. My name's Kouichi." The dark-haired boy smiled at him, pointedly ignoring the snickers that had appeared in his head. "What're your names?"

The two looked at each other in confusion for a moment, then turned back to him. "Well…" The girl shrugged slowly. "I'm Zephyr, and this is Yuki…"

"Not those." Kouichi tried to waved his hand slightly, but couldn't do more than move his shoulders, succeeding in stretching them out somewhat. "I want to know your real names. The ones your mothers gave you."

Another confused look between the two strangers, this one longer and more concerned, then they looked to him again with baffled eyes. Then Yuki's face spread into a slight smile of understanding.

"…Tomoki. I'm Tomoki."

"Mine's Izumi." Added Zephyr quietly.

Kouichi smiled. "You're Japanese?"

"I am!" Tomoki giggled, looking up at his blonde friend. "Not Zumi-chan, though."

The blonde rolled her eyes at him and smiled at Kouichi. "I'm Italian. My father might have been Japanese, though."

"I see." Kouichi nodded somewhat sleepily. The voice in his mind was muttering to itself, saying that these two were too young, far too young, weren't in the Group when he'd been in charge, what was Mercurious thinking bringing in such children…

"You two…weren't here before, were you?"

"What?"

Kouichi shook his head, trying to figure out what he was saying, and tried again. "Before…when this group started…you weren't with them, were you?"

"Well, no…" Izumi glanced at Tomoki somewhat nervously, shifting a bit. "We're kinda new, to tell the truth…"

"Why?" Kouichi shoved the intruding voice-in-his-head far back, muffling its influence for a few feeing minutes. "Why did you join them? Why'd you come here?"

The two exchanged another somewhat worried glance. It was clear that they hadn't really been expecting their leader's 'host' to be quite so…normal, and were questioning whether or not they really wanted to continue with this conversation. Kouichi waited patiently, closing his eyes a moment and leaning against the back of the chair once again.

Finally, Tomoki seamed to come to a decision and took a deep breath. "My eyes." He muttered softly, looking down. "'Cause of my snow, then sun makes them hurt. Like being permanently snow-blind."

"I see…" Kouichi nodded in understanding. It made sense, from the edge of the memories that were siphoning into him from the invading presence in his mind. He turned his soft gaze to Izumi once more. "And you?"

Izumi shifted nervously. "Well…Um, you see…" She muttered hesitantly, but the sound of huge double doors opening behind them cut her off.

"Zephyr! Yuki!"

Both of the free-standing teens grimaced as their bodies tensing on their own, then turned slowly to face Mercurious and Taper as they crossed the thin bridge over the glowing moat of blue-white light. "Y-Yes, sir?"

"Back to your quarters, both of you." The green-robed mutant frowned at them, glaring harshly. "It will _not_ do to be continue pestering our Lord any further. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir!" Both teens gulped and scurried off across the thin bridge. Izumi paused a moment to glance guiltily back at Kouichi before she disappeared.

Kouichi watched them go somewhat sadly, then was brought back to reality by Taper's slow-yet-steady approach. He drew back and pressed against the back of the throne in fear as she slowly removed her gloves and reached out for him once again.

"Do not fear, my Lord." She whispered heavily, taking a step closer. "It won't be much longer now. Soon, you will free once more…"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Takuya hovered outside the door somewhat hesitantly, fiddling with his lighter (child-safety lock still firmly in place, of course) as he shifted from one leg to the other. He'd been standing there in the hallway for five minutes now, dressed in his uniform the same way the whole Institute had been since they were put on red-alert two hours before, but no one seamed bothered by him being right in their way.

After all, it took a lot of guts to walk in on a den of angry, testy wolves.

He took one more deep, long breath, gathering all his courage, and knocked. "Kouji? You in there?"

There was no response. He knocked one more time, then reached for the knob and slowly opened the door.

Kouji was sitting in the window seat, both knees pulled up close, his arms looped around his ankles. His chin was resting on his legs, the long ponytail falling gently over his shoulder as he stared out the window at the green grass of the institute's lawn, blowing slightly in the light afternoon wind. The basketball court wasn't too far away from their view, and underneath that, they knew, Wolverine and Hank were busy prepping the Blackbird for the long trip to Dusk's base.

"What do you want?" Kouji snapped irritably, not looking up.

Takuya winced slightly. "I just wanted to check on you, buddy. Make sure you're…okay."

Kouji scowled at his teammate's pale reflection in the glass. "I'm _fine._"

"Right…" Takuya stepped in slowly and closed the door behind him. "You know, we're leaving soon."

"Yeah."

"It won't be much longer now. The Blackbird's really fast, we'll get to the Rockies in no time…"

Kouji growled softly and Takuya stopped babbling. There was a long moment of awkward, uncertain silence before Flare sighed again. "Look, buddy…" He crossed the room and stood only a few feet from his friend's seat. "I know you're worried about him and all, but you gotta relax. We'll get your brother back, no problem. You know the Professor won't let you guys down."

"That's not it." Kouji muttered sourly, still staring out the window. "That's not the point."

"Then what _is_ the point?" Takuya pressed. Kouji's eyes were distant now, his jaw set and rigid. "Come on, buddy, you can tell me. I'm your friend, remember? Get it off your chest."

Kouji's jaw tightened slightly and his ground his teeth just a bit, but then he let out a soft, almost pained sigh. "I promised him…"

"Huh?" Takuya's eyebrows shot up in interest. "Promise?"

"Kouichi. I promised him that I would…" Kouji sighed again, folding his hands under his chin with the expression of a puppy who had just been separated from his litter. I promised that I'd…take care of him. Protect him. I…I _promised_."

Takuya scratched his head in slight confusion. "When was this?"

"When we were kids. Right after Mom and Dad split up." Kouji's lips had taken on what could very well have been a light pout, his lower lip protruding just the slightest. "He got scared pretty easily, always crying and getting hurt…that's why mom picked him…And one night just before they split us up, he had this nightmare. Mom was already out of the house and Dad was out cold, as usual, so it was just him and me, all by ourselves…

"That night I…I promised him I'd never let anything hurt him. That even if Mom and Dad spit us up, I'd never let anyone actually take him away from me or break us apart." He gripped his fists angrily, a low growl rumbling up from his throat. "And then I let those _bastards_ take him from right under my nose."

"Dude…" Takuya sat down on the free half of the window seat. "It wasn't your fault. No of us knew that was coming."

Kouji didn't look at him, his jaw still set stubbornly. Takuya sighed, leaning back against the window frame to stare out with his friend.

Knowing that, you've got all the more reason to go after them with us, right?" Flare said softly, keeping his eyes forward. "You've got that promise to keep. You gotta make those creeps pay. He's counting on you."

Kouji lifted his head and stared at the other boy for a moment. Takuya turned and grinned at him brightly. "You did promise him, right?"

"…Right." Kouji smirked slightly, then reached over to punch Takuya in the shoulder. "You're an idiot, you know that?"

"And you're back to normal." Flare snapped his lighter closed smartly. "Ready to kick some butt?"

"You know it."

Beast's voice suddenly echoed through the Institute grounds over the PA system, serious even through the metallic ring that edged each word: "Attention X-Men, report to the hanger immediately. The Blackbird is ready to board."

_**TBC…**_


	6. Take Hold

You people need to relax. Junpei's coming along soon, I swear. I've just got a very… interesting…place for him…I apologize for taking so long. I've had Journalism UIL competitions and I've had to practice my writing comps, and I've also been working on my original novel. February doesn't mix well with my fic writing…

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 6: Taking Hold**

The Blackbird set down somewhat awkwardly, remaining silent and cloaked even as it rested on the ground of the small Rocky Mountain clearing. Storm clicked off the switches and buttons under her control, checking the control read-out screens as they slipped into standby mode. "Are we certain this is the right place?"

"Most definitely." Xavier nodded softly, adjusting a communication transmitter on his ear. "These are the coordinates Cerebro traced Yin back to, and according to the GPS there should be a small cavern entrance not far from here."

"And where better for a bunch of night-walkers to live than a cave." Logan deadpanned, undoing his seatbelt and striding back to the rear hatch to speak with the kids.

It was rather packed, as most of the high school-aged X-men had volunteered to come along, while the Jr. High kids remained back at the Institute with Beast. Belted into various places along the wall, Logan took a quick headcount to make sure everyone was there. Yang (obvious) with Nightcrawler, Iceman and Flare (unsurprising) unbuckling themselves from along the left-hand side, while Rouge (bit of a surprise), Shadowcat, Spike, Jean and Cyclops were fumbling with the belts on the other side.

Charles wheeled himself in ahead of Logan and looked around the room at his students. "All right then. Does everyone remember the plan?"

"Yes, sir." Cyclops nodded, standing with the rest of the group.

"Everyone got their communicators in place?" Hank asked, lumbering in through the door. A quick consensus brought a positive answer as every other person tapped the metal pieces in their ears. "Good. We're not far from the entrance."

Charles glanced at the room, then up a Logan and Storm. "All right everyone, this is it. Be careful and watch out for each other. Remember, this people are mutants, too, and they have powers, same as all of you."

Kouji grumbled softly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Got it. Let's _go_." He sneered softly.

Cyclops gave him a rather nasty look, which was quite a feat given the visor that controlled his force-beams, but Professor X nodded in understanding. "All right then. Team One with Logan, Team Two, follow Cyclops. Good luck."

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

The path was relatively straight forward, all things considered. A thin, well-beaten dirt road through the underbrush without much flare or decoration, it turned only once before they reached the cave entrance. Of course, they wouldn't have known it was a cave at first glance, seeing as it was set in the ground, more like a crevice than anything else. The sudden crack in the ground was about twenty-five feet across and went straight into the ground as far as they could see.

After making sure with both some high-tech scans and Jean's mental powers that yes, this was exactly where they were supposed to be, the X-Men used rappelling gear, Kurt's teleporting and Storm's gentle blows of wind to drop them in as quietly as possible.

The landing was soft enough, fortunately, but certainly not what they expected.

"Fancy." Iceman mentioned brightly, glancing around at the delicately-carved black furnishings and relatively tasteful dark color scheme. "Not too often you find evil lairs with an interior decorator."

Shadowcat hit him on the back of the head. "This is no time for jokes, Bobby!"

"Stay on your guard." Wolverine warned harshly, gritting his fang-like teeth in feral determination.

"Right," nodded Storm. "They're bound to have some kind of security…"

The words had barely left her mouth when the sound of footsteps echoed up from one of the many hallways branching off of the hall. The gathered eleven X-Men were instantly on alert, their bodies tensing into various different ready stances as their eyes darted to the entrance.

The 'security' turned out to be two people…young ones, teenagers, a tiny boy dressed in orange and a girl with long blonde hair. They seemed somewhat distracted, wandering a bit as they approached and acting startled when they noticed the X-Men standing there.

"Don't move." Spike hissed, lifting his arm at the elbow to reveal a stone point ready to be shot. "If you know what's good for you."

The blonde girl took another sharp breath, then quite suddenly pointed back down the hall and slightly to the right. "This way." She whispered, her eyes locked on Kouji.

The group faltered, especially Storm and Yang. "What?"

"He's this way." The girl hissed, still motioning and moving a few steps down the shadowed hall. "Hurry, follow us. We'll show you the way."

The little boy nodded somewhat tipsily and motioned as well. "Come on, come on!"

"You!" Iceman exclaimed, recognizing the boy's voice.

Takuya started as well. "You're some of the ones who attacked the mansion! Why should we trust _you_?"

The blonde turned and gave him a pained look, which surprised Flare to a certain extent, as he wasn't expecting the look in question to be quite so…attractive. Her eyes glistened with the kind of determination that comes coupled with a decent layer of guilt. She averted the gaze from Takuya and looked instead to Kouji, pleading a bit. "Please. He's this way, he really is. You'll get lost without someone to show you."

Yang narrowed his eyes. "Then what are we waiting for?"

Several of the others…Rouge, Scott and Bobby, in particular…moved to object sharply, but before any of them could even get the words to their lips they were cut off by a low, almost majestic, laugh.

"Well well. Trying to turn traitor, Zephyr, Yuki?"

The girl went rigid and the little boy leapt back on a soft puff of ice. The laugh began to echo through the chasm and a new sort of sound floated out. It was footsteps, definitely footsteps, but there were more than just two sets this time. Through all the doorways…about six of them, if one's eyesight was really good…came a group of people, mutants, each dressed in their own choice of expressive garments and ready for a fight. It was a virtual army, and easily recognized from the attack on the Institute.

Wolverine growled softly, taking a slow inventory. "Quite a welcoming party."

"You should be flattered." Sneered a little woman in blue in a heavy southern accent. "It's not too often we get this excited over a bunch'a uninvited guests!"

A large, burly man in brown slammed his fist together, and the point between them suddenly blossomed into a wreath of flowers and vines. "I think we gots to take care of 'em, right?"

"Sound like fun." Laughed a squat little man with a huge nose, brandishing the mallet in his hand. "Me want a turn, too!"

The green-robed mutant carrying his large, reflective shield stepped forward as the leader of the group. He smirked lightly, an icy yet attractive gaze as he approached the group slowly. "How very rude of thou to burst into our humble home without so much as an invitation."

"I'd say you invited us, bub." Logan growled, the adamantium claws ready to leap out of his tense arms. "Now where's the kid?"

"You are mistaken, sir. There are no _children_ here." Smirked the green-robed reflector. "Only those who have pledged their lives to our Lord's mission. He shall wake presently, then thou may see for thyselves…"

A thin beam of light shot past, close enough to leave a short, painfully hot cut along the pale cheek. The blonde man recoiled with a hiss, looking up into the furious green eyes of one Kouji Minamoto.

"Over my dead body, bastard." Growled a enraged Yang. "_WHERE IS HE?"_

Zephyr gulped. "Uh-oh…"

"That wasn't a good idea…" Whimpered Yuki hesitantly.

The blonde man was livid. "Thou shall learn to control thy temper, insolent brat!" Snapped the green mutant, stepped back. He raised one green-gloved hand as Wolverine curled up in a ready position, counting down the moments to lead the attack.

Then, simultaneously, with a roar and a signal, the two groups collided.

"This is gonna get rough!" Iceman called, firing off another round of icy blasts. "I think time to split!"

"Right." Sighed Storm, fluttering above the battle. She looked squeamish about going through with the rather un-thought-out plan, but there was very little other choice now. "Group Two, move it!"

Cyclops scowled, but nodded sharply. "Right! Come on, guys!"

Kouji didn't bother to wait for orders and darted down the hall just seconds behind Zephyr and Yuki, yelling at the two strangers to show him the way and promising terrible blasphemies if they lead him wrong. Rouge, Kurt, Jean, Kitty and Takuya were right on his heels, disappearing down the darkened hall as the noise of battle faded slowly behind them.

As it turned out, having a guide or two was a very good thing. The hallways twisted away from each other, branching off into separate wings seemingly every few feet. Running as they were, it was often a remarkably short amount of time before they turned again, wearing the corners thin.

"Are you sure this is, like, the right way?" Shouted Shadowcat, phasing through one of the walls to keep up.

"Positive. Just keep up." Zephyr called back, and Yuki nodded in agreement.

"It's not too far now…"

"_Help!"_

Jean slid to a stop, her hands flying up to her temples beyond her soft red hair. Cyclops was the first to notice and stopped as well, the rest of the group pulling short a very short ways away. "What is it, Jean?"

"_Is anyone there? Help me, please, somebody!"_

"Someone's in trouble!" Jean exclaimed, bracing herself against the wall. "I can hear it…someone…someone's in trouble, they're calling for help."

Kouji went rigid. "Kouichi?"

"No, not Yin…" Jean held her head a moment, looking this way and before pointing down a much smaller side tunnel. "That way! Whoever it is, they're that way!"

Yuki cocked his head to the side. "That can't be right."

"The only thing down there is the generator room." Zephyr shifted from one foot to the other nervously. "Please, come on! We don't have time for this."

Cyclops glanced between them. "Anymore turns down that way?"

"No, it's a straight path." Yuki faltered a bit. "But we don't have time for something like this!"

"_Help me! Somebody please, help me!"_

"Scott!" Jean begged, holding her head. "He's in pain!"

Scott considered everything quickly and made a split-second decision. "All right. You guys keep going. Jean and I will go this way and catch up with you later, okay?"

"But…!"

"Just go!" Jean cut Kurt off gently, pausing at the entrance to the fork. "We'll catch up with you guys later. Go!"

She and Scott took off down the hall without another word. Rouge stepped up to the plate, taking charge almost instantly. "You heard the lady, blue! Get movin'!"

The group hesitated just a moment longer, then continued on. Zephyr and Yuki lead them, straight and true, down the following halls. Right, left, center fork, adding on to the ever-increasing maze of twists and turns. Before long, they reached a very long hall that just kept going straight on for so long their joints started to wear out from running, the corridor filling with the brimstone-like smell of Kurt's jumps…

And, quite suddenly, the hallway stopped.

"This is it." Zephyr sighed, bracing her hand on the touch pad beside the huge double onyx doors that made up the end of the hallway. "This is the inner sanctum… Dusk's main quarters. He's right through here."

Takuya nodded in understanding, his entire body stiff and tense. "So what are we waiting for?"

"We don't know…" Yuki gulped, glancing at the group hesitantly before he tried again. "That is, we have been inside in a while, so we don't know what…"

A loud explosion echoed from up the hall, sounding suspiciously like a crag of earth being suddenly split by red-hot force beams. The group jumped to various different heights depending on their various startle reactions, each landing within relative time.

Rouge recovered, shaking herself back to normal with a few mental slaps. "Com' on. We ain't got time fer this!"

Zephyr gulped, but nodded and pressed the panel down.

The room they stepped into next was huge, a large dome at least the size of Cerebro, if not bigger. The walls were made of a smooth, dark gray stone without any crack or sign or mortar. Suspended in the center of it all, on the top of a tall, thick tower stretching down into what might as well have been a bottomless pit, was a wide platform supporting a tall, black throne. And nestled in the throne was none other than…

"Kouichi!" Kouji gasped, darting across the thin land-bridge that lead from the door to the platform.

"Watch it, Yang!" Rouge called, but Flare and Nightcrawler scrambled out after them. She sighed, putting a gloved hand on her forehead and gaining a sympathetic look from Zephyr as she muttered, "Damn boys…"

Kouji, naturally enough, reached the platform first and immediately raced to his brother's side, Kurt _bamph_'ing to the point two seconds behind him. The figure in the chair was Kouichi, all right, slumped forward so that his chin rest on his chest, wrists held firmly to the throne itself by a thick pair of metal cuffs.

"Nii-san…" Kouji whispered, shaking his brother gently as Kurt pulled a small lock pick from his pocket. "Can you hear me? Nii-san!"

The captive shifted a moment and mumbled something indistinct, looking as though he might lift his head soon. Kurt grinned at him with a familiar, fuzzy blue expression as he set to work on the cuffs. "Don't vorry, I'll have you vree in no time!"

Takuya leaned forward to pat Kouichi's shoulder warmly, flicking his lighter closed in the other hand as he did. "We'll get'cha out of here, no problem. Just relax."

"Kouichi?" Kouji shook him again gently. Rouge, Yuki and Zephyr were crossing the bridge now, a bit more carefully than those before them. "Come on, Nii-san, wake up. Say something, Kouichi. Answer me."

The lock on the first cuff came undone, falling open in Kurt's hands with surprising ease. The blue-furred mutant bamph'ed to the other side of the chair, just under Takuya's arms, and set to work on the second one.

Kouichi finally started to move, lifting his head slowly and opening his eyes to gaze at his brother. But something registered in Kouji's mind as wrong. Perhaps it was the wincingly ice-cold look in his usually warm blue eyes, or the way his lips were curving up into a venomous, spiteful smile.

"Hello, brother." A cold voice hissed and the second lock broke open.

Kouji jerked back at the horribly familiar voice, but wasn't fast enough to dodge as Kouichi pulled his arm free and slammed his flat hand into his brother's chest with enough sudden force to knock the air violently from Kouji's lungs. A second wave came with a burst of inky black darkness that lifted Kouji off his feet and flung him bodily through the air, slamming into the ground hard and sliding several meters. He stopped barely before the edge, his feet dangling off over the lightly-glowing abyss. The boy's body rocked back and forth a moment, then stopped and lay still.

"Yang!" Rouge shouted, sliding to a stop.

Zephyr covered her mouth with a hesitant whimper. "Oh no…"

"Kouji!" Takuya exclaimed, flicking open his lighter and taking a battle-ready stance, but before he could do anything Kouichi's now-cold eyes turned to him and his entire body froze up.

Kurt froze under the dark-haired boy's gaze as well, every inch of his slick blue hair standing on end. A collective breath was held and no one moved, giving Kouichi more than ample time to look down at his own hands, flexing the fingers and stretching the wrists.

"Oh, yes…" The dark voice whispered, a wide grin spreading over his face, twisting the normally attractive features as he pushed away from the throne. "This will do nicely, very nicely. It's been far too long since I've had a real form of my own. And such a strong, youthful one as well."

Kouji took a deep breath, struggling to keep ahold of consciousness. His head craned around to gaze at his now-standing brother with painful, half-lidded eyes. "Kouichi…Nii-san…"

His brother turned to him with a cold, warped smile. "Not anymore."

_**TBC…**_

(sigh) This would've been so much better if I could have shown it the way I did in my mind…like a TV episode…but I guess it just can't be done. Hope you liked this chapter anyway.


	7. Retreat

See, I told you Junpei would come in eventually! And in a rather creative way, too, if I do say so myself! Enjoy!

P.S. - To Evide: Wow, you really ARE psychic! I've been working on this for a week!

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 7: Retreat**

Scott and Jean had known each other for a long time. About eight years, to be exact.

That's when the professor had brought them both to the Institute as part of his first group of X-Men. At the time, neither could have understood what this strange man wanted with a practically-blind orphan or a redhead with powers that scared everyone around her. They were then met by the others like them…the older African girl who'd been treated as a goddess since puberty, the troubled amnesiac with amazing healing abilities and, of course, the Professor himself. Scott and Jean, being the only two of around their own age at the time, found themselves drawn to each other in tight friendship and, perhaps, something more.

Which was why Scott knew, when Jean suddenly slid to a stop in mid-run and grabbed her red head with a minor shriek of pain, that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

"Jean, what is it?" He demanded, turning back to come to her side.

"It's Dusk…" The redhead groaned, gripping the sides of her head. "Oh, Scott, we're too late…Dusk is awake…"

Scott closed his eyes behind the visor as some sort of futile protection from the far-too-familiar pang of defeat. After a moment, he opened them again. "What about Yin?"

"I don't know." Jean was pulling herself to her feet again, somewhat painfully. "I…I can't feel his mind at all. It's been completely smothered by Dusk's consciousness…"

Scott hissed sharply, his body tensing up in a definite fight or flight instinct. "We've got to go back. Maybe we can help somehow!"

"No!" Jean grabbed her companion's arm desperately. "Scott, we can't turn back now! We're nearly to the generator, and there's someone in trouble there, I know it!"

"Jean…" Cyclops faltered.

"Even if there isn't, we can at least shut down the power!" The telepath's words were strong and serious. "Maybe the others can get out of the fight if we do! And if we go back, we'll never get there in time!"

Scott took a few seconds to think this over, but the decision was already made. Everyone at the Institute and most of the people at school knew what an utter pushover he was when it came to whatever Jean wanted…

"Fine." He sighed, helping her up. "But come on, we've got to hurry!"

Jean nodded at him with a thankful smile, then the two took off down the hall.

As it turned out, the red-haired telepath was precisely right in her assumption that the generator room was not far off. The reached the end of the hallway, and there, the only doorway they had passed in all this time, within five minutes. They tried to pull the metal door open manually, but when that didn't work, Scott's force-beams made quick work of it.

The generator was…interesting, to say the least.

Neither Scott nor Jean were particularly good with electronics or mechanics, but even they could tell that this was no ordinary generator. For one thing, its central component seemed to be a gigantic battery, about fifteen feet high and at least fifty feet in diameter. From it, a multitude of wires branched off in every direction, spiraling upwards and downwards into the walls, twisting and writhing off to every last point of the vast base.

"Woah." Scott let out a low whisper. "This is some contraption."

Jean closed her eyes to try and focus, searching for the mind that had been crying out. Her hands stretched out delicately, running over the metal components with caution and care, her fingers drifting along the smooth metal casing of the huge battery…

"_Help! Somebody please, help!"_

"Scott!" Jean shouted, her eyes snapping open. "He's here!"

Cyclops spun around, one hand on his visor's controlling latch. "Who's here?"

"The voice, the one in trouble!" Jean was searching the battery's casing for some sort of latch or crevice. "He's in here! Inside this!"

Scott took quite a while to recover from that idea, then raced over to join his girlfriend in the search. But soon it became quite obvious that there was no passageway or opening here, just smooth casing, not even a seam to be found.

Jean stepped back and put a hand over her mouth worriedly. "We have to get them out of there!"

"All right then." Scott braced one hand on his visor. "Stand back!"

The redhead darted out of the way quickly, giving him just enough space to release a blast of red force beams directly at the battery's hard casings. It burst like an over-stuffed trash bag, flinging sparks in all directions and dumpling out a multitude of sparking wires.

Something big and heavy was caught in the tangles of wires and smoke, sagging it downward. It soon revealed itself to be a human, albeit a rather heavily-set one, hanging loosely in a semi-upright position with his hands above his head and his toes dangling inches from the ground. He groaned painfully, short brown hair drooping into dark brown eyes.

"Oh my goodness!" Jean raced forward. "Hey, you! Say something, are you all right?"

"Help…" Groaned the figure in an obviously male voice. He tried to move his hands, which were encased in heavy blue gloves, dozens of wires protruding from each one. "Help me…please…"

Jean reached out with her telepathy, shifting him into a more comfortable position, or at least one where he wasn't dangling. "Scott, hurry!" She begged. "We've got to get him loose!"

"Right…Stand clear!"

Scott aimed the force beams with as much precision as the visor would allow him, severing the wires one by one without touching either Jean or the stranger. One by one, the wires snapped, and one by one, the lights on a nearby grid silently went out.

As the heavy-set figure was suddenly freed to drop to the ground, every light in the entire base simultaneously shut off.

For a moment, there was a long silence. Then the strange boy lifted himself into a sitting position, a flurry of sparks from his arms and hands illuminating him and most of the room around him.

"Oh man, I owe you guys one." He sighed. "Big time."

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Kouji stared up at the monster in his brother's skin, a vicious poison lacing his burning, navy-blue eyes. He pulled his arms under neither himself and lifted up onto his elbows, a snarl planted firmly on his lips. "You…You…"

"Yang, just stay down!" Rouge shouted in warning, her right hand gripping the bottom of her left glove.

Dusk's shadow-darkened eyes narrowed at the twin in question as Kouji, quite simply, ignored Rouge's warning and pulled himself to his feet. He stumbled unsteadily, but managed to stay on his feet and kept a vicious glare on his face.

Takuya's fingers hesitated over the hammer of his lighter. "Dammit, Kouji…"

"So…" Dusk smirked at the struggling twin lightly. "You're still willing to fight, are you?"

Kouji responded with a growl, drawing his hand backwards. Small particles of blue-white light from whatever it was below them gathered in his palm, forming a small sphere of gleaming radiance that shown through his fingers.

The instant he reared back to throw it, the lights suddenly shut off.

The room was plunged into darkness, save the soft gleaming blue light from far below and the radiant brightness still clutched in Kouji's hand. The shining sphere flew from his grip, a single point of light in the sudden dusk of the room…

That is, until long tongues of shadow shot from their holds and wrapped around the sphere, smothering it almost instantly.

"What the…?" Kouji faltered. That had never happened before!

Dusk's heavy, sordid laughter filled his ear and Kouji stiffened. His brother's face loomed in front of him without warning, breaking into the very thin beams of light for mere seconds before Kouji suddenly found himself unable to breathe.

His hands snapped to try and pry the offending form away, but found said object to have no real form. His hands groped at practically nothing, feeling only the light tingle that washed through him when he touched the shadows under his brother's control.

"Foolish boy." Laughed Dusk, closing his hand on nothing and tightening the darkness's strangling grip. "The difference between your brother's clumsy handling and my refined precession is well beyond your feeble imagination."

"Kouji!" Takuya snapped his lighter open and lunged into the attack, billowing flames rustling up over his hand.

Dusk smirked slightly and turned to the attacker, holding out his other hand. The darkness surged forward and swept Takuya up in its wake, flinging him several feet backwards and crashing into Yuki. The two boy bounced twice and landed, somehow flipped around so that Yuki, mildly stunned, landed on Flare rather hard.

"Oh no…" Zephyr darted away from Rouge's side to check on the two boys worriedly.

"That's better." Dusk smirked, turning back to Kouji. "Now. Let's turn out the lights."

He tightened the ring of darkness around the boy's neck, and a light gargle of pain ripped from Yang's throat. Dusk lifted his hand and the darkness obeyed, lifting Kouji slowly into the air until his feet dangled inches from the ground.

Kurt burst forward and disappeared with a great _BAMPH_, reappearing directly in front of Dusk. The being of darkness easily dodged the blue-furred mutant's strong upper cut, and swiped his free hand up to send Nightcrawler flying as well. He couldn't teleport quite in time and crashed to the ground, landing hard.

That same hand was brought back in front of Dusk's chest as the figure let out a light chuckle. A ball of shadow formed itself in the palm of said hand, but it was… different. Somehow it seemed even darker than the night around them, a pure black like nothing any of them had ever seen, as though a bottomless hole was concealed in that small point.

"Do you know what would happen if even a miniscule bit of this dark matter touched your skin?" Dusk asked silkily, addressing the still-struggling Kouji. He lifted the ball of dark matter up so the boy could see better. "Hm? Well do you?"

Kouji wanted to spit, but he couldn't find the strength against the strangling shadows holding him aloft. Dusk's smirk widened as he toyed with the ball of dark matter. "It would destroy your physical body utterly, dissolving it into minute particles of kinetic energy in well under the time it would take for your mind to process what was happening. Almost instantly, you would become a part of the cosmos itself."

His smirk widened as the dark matter came to rest between two of his fingers. "Such a fantastic way to die, isn't it, brother?" He laughed softly. "I think it'd be suiting for all the trouble you've caused me…"

He lifted the dark matter, stretching up to hover centimeters from Kouji's gasping lips…And stopped.

Stopped because Rouge had appeared behind him, her left hand gloveless and bared and seized Dusk's bared neck loosely. The master of the shadows began to tremble and turned to look at her, his mouth gaping before…he fell, unconscious.

Rouge pulled her hand back and took a deep breath to steady herself. She forced herself to relax and seized Kouji's arm with her still-gloved right hand, pulled him up and hoisting his arm over her shoulders. "Flare! Grab Kurt and let's get out of here!"

"Already done!" Takuya and Kurt, who himself was struggling to regain consciousness, were hovering at the edge of the land bridge with Yuki. Rouge summoned up some of the strength she'd siphoned from Dusk to haul Kouji over to them. Zephyr met her half-way and took the other arm, dragging the unconscious Yang.

"Nii-san…"

"Wow." Zephyr whispered, obviously impressed. "He's really determined, isn't he?"

Rouge rolled her eyes. "He's got a one-track mind even when he can't move."

She shuddered suddenly and slumped a bit, the strength she'd siphoned from Dusk slipping away. Ignoring Zephyr's worried questions, she pulled herself back up and hauled Kouji up with her. "Come on. He'll be waking up soon. Hurry!"

And they took off running.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"So, what's your name again?" Jean asked their new, blue-clothed addition as the trio ran through the darkened hallways, guided only by a series of glowing sparks.

"Junpei Shibuyama." Grinned the heavy-set boy in a good-natured manner. "But some folks call me Lightening Bug."

Scott wrinkled his nose a bit at the odd…very odd…nick name. It seemed a bit childish, even by mutant standards. "And you were stuck in that thing…why?"

"'Cause those goons in the black jumped me!" The heavy-set boy growled a bit as angry sparks burst from his body. "I've been stuck in there for a year and a half! There was food and water and all, to keep me alive, but those wires completely drained me…"

"I wouldn't doubt it." Jean ducked away from the occasional flying spark. "They were probably harvesting the electrical energy from your body for a power system. I can't imagine that they'd get too much, though."

"Don't count on it." Junpei sighed. "Last doc I went to said I average about twenty thousand volts a minute."

"20,000 volts?" Scott exclaimed, but he barely had time to register his shock before an intrusion from the side-hall nearly bowled them all over.

Rouge and Zephyr barely managed to miss Junpei, sliding to a sudden stop. Kurt bamph'ed away at the last second, but Takuya wasn't so lucky and crashed into the larger boy rather painfully.

"Ow…" Flare sat up and rubbed his head, the realized who he'd run into. "Woah, who the heck are you?"

"No time for that!" Rouge snapped, then turned to Scott. "We gotta get out of here, now!"

Cyclops was just a little startled. "What?"

"Dusk is way too strong!" The duel-haired girl snapped. "There's no way any of us can take him down!"

Kurt nodded. "Yah! Ve better get to the others!"

For a moment, Scott had to process this information, but then he got angry. "So we're just supposed to run away?"

"We don't have a choice, Scott." Jean muttered softly, an extremely worried look on her face. "We're not prepared for Dusk, even with all of us together I don't think we can do this. Besides…I think Logan and the others are having trouble…"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

True to his name, Logan growled viciously at the green-robed mirror-wielder, despite the rather large gash that was striped across his right shoulder. He took a step backwards, which he wouldn't have done normally, except that he was carrying and unconscious Spike over his left shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

It had all been going so well until Shadowcat got knocked out by that annoying little lawn-sprinkler of a water-controlling woman. Then Spike got caught in one of the Earth-user's attacks, and Iceman wounded by the wood-thing. And of course, it didn't help that this…Mercurious guy…was reflected everything they threw at him back.

So, now they were basically cornered. And the odds didn't look so good.

Storm was hovering above him, holding Shadowcat in her arms. "Logan, it's no good!" She shouted. "I've lost contact with the others, and we'll never win like this. We have to retreat!"

"Then do it, dammit!" Logan roared, practically throwing Ororo her nephew. The weather-controller caught the unconscious boy on a strong gust and took off straight up. Wolverine swirled around to face Iceman. "Bobby, get topside, now!"

"But…"

"DO IT!"

Iceman hesitated, but made a dash for the various lifelines and grappling hooks still lowered into the crevice's entrance.

"Oh no you don't, sugah!" Laughed Aquani, sweeping around to follow with a great spray of water and…

Was suddenly knocked flat on her face by a reduced force beam.

Logan snapped his head around as, with a flurry of their own moves and techniques, the second half of their team suddenly burst from one of the tunnels. "What the hell happened?"

Scott closed the visor and turned instantly to Logan. "Dusk's awake and he's probably right on our tails!"

"We have to get out of here!" Zephyr added in a high-pitched shriek.

"Great." Growled Logan. "Any suggestions how?"

There was a sudden fury of wind and the Blackbird suddenly appeared, hovering over the crevice on its jets. The bottom platform opened up and Storm tossed down a rope ladder.

"Hurry!" She called. "Everyone, come on! Get up here!"

Jean's mental barriers kept the warriors of the night on the ground as the others scrambled for their own ways up. Kurt _bamph_'ed back down and grabbed the telepath at the last second, disappearing into the Blackbird's hatch instantly.

The four fighters left on the ground seemed unalarmed or even hurt, rising to their feet slowly and confidently. Aquani was the first one up, and she smirked. "Well, would'ya lookit that?"

"Ah, like a rabbit, the yonder fools hurriedly try to escape from the trap into wince they have fallen." Chuckled Mercurious haughtily, one green-gloved hand resting on his chin.

Grumble shifted his weight and lifted his huge hammer over his head. "Me stop them, yes? They no go nowhere!"

"Let them go. They are no longer of any consequence."

A collective gasp rolled through the group, their heads turning back one by one. The cold, measured voice had come from a young boy who was approaching them from the darkened tunnel. One hand rested cockily in the pocket of his black dress pants, the silky black tuxedo shirt billowing around him in the wind majestically. His short, dark hair seemed to fall into just the right place to shade his navy-blue eyes, and everything around him radiated cause for respect. The darkness followed him as he stepped from the shadows, cloaking his footsteps like a royal train.

Mercurious took a deep, somewhat steadying breath, then dropped to one knee in a low bow. "My lord!"

The others mirrored him as best they could, forming a sort of semi-circle. Arbor's huge size made it impossible for him to bend quite enough, but a sort of 45 angle at the waist seemed to suffice. Grumble, off-balanced by the huge mallet, fell flat on his face.

Dusk smiled at his followers with an icy, confident smile. "We're moving." He said simply. "Back to the main base. This one has served its purpose."

"Of course, my Lord." Nodded Mercurious.

Aquani looked up. "But mah lord, what're we gonna do about those pesky do-gooders of Xavier's?"

"You needn't worry about that." Dusk trailed soft fingers over the female mutant's chin, turning his head upwards to watch the huge black plane disappear into the sky. "They will come back to play soon enough."

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Storm glanced over the electronic read-outs curiously. "That's odd." She muttered softly. "We're not meeting any resistance."

"Good!" Growled Logan. "I'm not giving them a chance to find some. Lift off!"

In the back hatch, Kouji groggily regained some kind of sense and lifted himself painfully to gaze out one of the Blackbird's tinted windows, watching the crevice disappear below them as they lifted off. He could still see, clear as day, Dusk standing in his brother's body, the devilish, evil look in his eyes, the cold smile worming its way over the face that looked so much like his own. The image was scarred into his retinas, burned onto the back of his eyelids so that he saw it every time he closed his eyes.

"Nii-san…" He whispered, placing a hand against the glass even as the hyper-fast jet sped away. "I'm sorry…"

_**TBC…**_

Okay, so the thing about instantly turning into energy on contact is actually more akin to antimatter, but, since dark matter has never actually been sample or really proven other than through mathematical formulas involving the mass of the galaxy, I'm taking a few creative liberties. And yes, I'm well aware that many of you probably didn't understand what I just said. I'm taking advanced astronomy this year and we learn that kind of stuff. (I love my magnet high school…)


	8. Memories, Punishment and Regret

That last battle scene really sucked, didn't it? (sigh) I'll try to do better next time. Actually, now I don't have to mess with a battle for a couple of weeks at least, since my stories are all in transitions of one kind or another…That's a good thing. Battle scenes are haaaard…

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 8: Memories, Punishments and Regrets**

_The ball rolled away from her, bouncing along the curves of the ground without stopping or even slowing down. It was small and black, it fit nicely into her tiny little hand, her favorite ball._

_She chased after it, scrambling under a prickly bush that poked and scratched at her skin, tearing some of her clothes. But her ball had gone this way, and it was her favorite, she couldn't let it go. She struggled against the prickly bush, her clothes caught so she couldn't move any further, her legs tangled in its branches. She couldn't get loose…couldn't get free…_

_A pair of strong, green-gloved hands reached down and gripped her under the arms, lifting her up and out of the bushes. The face of a thirty-something man with white-blonde hair and icy blue-green eyes appeared before her, observing her with scrutiny as he lifted her from the thorns._

_"Is this the one?" The man asked, turning her around and setting her back on her feet. There were two others there with him, towering over her, an older woman with graying hair and a man hiding in shadows._

_The second man reached out from the shadows and touched her forehead with his fingers. "Yes." He said in a wheezing, achingly sick voice. "There can be no doubt. His destiny is laid out."_

_She took a step back hesitantly, biting her lip and whimpering in childish fear. The woman gave a light smile and reached into her pocket, pulling out the small black ball. "Is this yours, little boy?"_

_"Yes!" Her face lit up and she stepped forward to take it. "Thank you, lady, I thought I'd…"_

_Something gripped her roughly from behind, dropping her to the ground. The last thing she could see was the wizened old man from the shadows stepping forward, holding a glass jar full of some sort of swirling, black mist…_

Rouge shot awake, sitting straight up in the hospital bed. She didn't remember passing out, but knew it was inevitable after the crazy stunt she'd pulled, running on adrenaline and fear to get her and her friends out of there in one piece. She imagined that she must have collapsed right after the Blackbird took off…

Which meant that…that dream…must have been something she'd siphoned off from Dusk.

No. The perspective was wrong, the way her body moved, it didn't feel like Dusk. So then it must have been…

"Rouge?"

The girl shook her head. Storm had approached her, dressed in her nice white lab coat and carrying a clipboard. Her icy blue eyes held a concerned, yet relieved, look on her face. "I'm glad you're awake." She said softly, sitting beside the girl's bed. "We were afraid you might have seriously over-exerted yourself."

"Ah'm fine." Rouge muttered, leaning back on the pillow and groaning when she realized her words were more slurred than usual.

"Good. We just wanted to make sure." Storm smiled at her again and, wearing rubber gloves as she did, reached over to check the girl's pulse. Rouge's own gloves, plain green leather, were sitting on a nightstand not too far away.

"Kurt and Takuya told me what happened with Dusk." Storm said quietly, not taking her eyes off the girl's wrist. "It was very brave, what you did, Rouge, saving Kouji that way. But you know what…could have happened, don't you? The risks you took?"

Rouge scowled softly. Of _course_ she knew what could have happened. It'd happened half a dozen times before, and she _never_ enjoyed a one of them. A dominant personality like Dusk's could completely override her own if she wasn't careful, it'd go on a rampage until her powers wore off, using _her_ body instead of Kouichi's. She could've killed all of her friends and never known it until it was too late…

But she didn't. And that made the difference.

"I didn't hold on long enough to knock him out." Rouge muttered, glancing away from Storm. "It wasn't near long enough, I'm sure of it."

Ororo looked up, a bit surprised. "But the boys said he passed out…"

"He did." Rouge frowned. "That's what's buggin' me, Ororo. Ah didn't have handle on him long enough for somethin' like that to happen. And his powers didn't stay with me long enough for somethin' like that, neither."

Storm let a light frown slip over her face as well, pulling her hands away and reaching for a stethoscope instead. "How very odd…"

"An' there's more." Rouge pursed her lips as she worked out how to phrase her next statement. "Ah…Ah think ah got somma his memories, but they weren't _his_ memories. At least, Ah'm pretty sure they weren't his. They seemed a bit too…nice…fer somebody like him."

'So…whose were they?"

Rouge thought for another long moment, then looked up with a sort of assurance in her eyes past the whiteness of her bangs. "Yin." She said quietly. "They must've been Yin's. They've gotta be. He's still in there."

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

The Followers of Darkness packed everything they might ever need up into a large, specially-built hovercopter purchased with some rather…questionable… finances. It was not very big, but it was fast enough to get to their chosen location within due time and large enough to fit their relatively small group (even smaller now that the youngest two had disappeared with their intruders) without much trouble.

There was a small room in very rear of the ship whose door was locked from the inside, one that none of the group could enter, and the circumstances if they did so could easily be ruled as cruel and unusual punishment by most courts.

In this room, it was entirely dark, not even an iota of light prying its way through the steel haul of the massive craft. In the middle of this utter darkness sat a plush black chair in which the body of a fourteen-year-old boy lay slumped. Though his eyes were covered by a pair of black, concealing sunglasses, his soft breathing showed that he was only sleeping, or so one might have said if anyone could see him. But the truth was the body lay unconscious, while its ever-present parasite slid into the world contained in its rightful mind.

This 'world' of sorts was plain and blank, as most minds were when unaffected by their owners' thoughts, but unlike most plains of the mind, this one was shrouded in darkness.

Dusk liked it that way. He'd been molding and altering this pathetic boy's mind since his Followers had implanted him all those far too many years ago to suit his tastes, all while taking care that the child should not notice what was happening until it was too late. He had hoped never to return to such a state again after he had been freed into the body itself, but the current situation required…intervention.

"You hopeless, pathetic fool." He growled as he reached the prone spiritual form lying flat out on the floor. He pulled back one incorporeal, black-booted foot and kicked his prisoner in the stomach.

The boy tried to curl up and grip his pained stomach, but the heavy black chains latched to his wrists prevented it very well. Similar chains had been fastened to his ankles as well, wrapped around his arms and legs in coils to snake around his thin body like so many vines or snakes. But despite his restricting, often painful, binds, the boy glared up at his slave master with defiance and a bit of anger in his eyes.

Dusk growled, his face, which now mirrored the boy on the ground's, sliding into a devious, angry sneer. "Don't you _dare_ look at me like that you little ingrate!" He snarled, and kicked him in the stomach again, harder this time. The boy gasped for the semblance of breath that he'd lost in the vicious assault, curling up as best he could against the chains.

But Dusk wasn't done yet. He crouched down and seized the boy-spirit by his hair, wrenching his head up painfully and pulling out a few dark strands. The boy stifled a cry in his throat, the sound coming out in a low gurgle of pain.

"This is for that _idiotic_ stunt you pulled today with that power-suck leech girl!" Roared Dusk in a furious rage, pulling a bit harder. "What makes you think you can defy me, you miserable whelp? This body belongs to me now, you are nothing but a fading memory that should aught to disappear for good."

The boy stifled what might have been a rebellious growl. "It's mine…My body…"

"Not anymore it's not!" Dusk slammed the spirit's head into the 'floor' of the mind-world without abandon. He couldn't kill the whelp, not here, and not if he wanted to keep using this body, but the pain was just as real to the specter as everything else in this mental world.

Dusk straightened, locking a laser-like gaze on the figure before him, a harsh expression plastered across his lips the entire thing was rather unattractive, even on a normally appealing face as the one he held now. He glared down at the boy in disgust and annoyance.

"I'll deal with you later." He sneered, and stormed away.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"I see." The Professor put a hand to his chin in a thought expression, a light frown on pursed lips. "So the memories Rouge absorbed weren't from Dusk, but from Kouichi. Which means that the life force and power she drew…"

"…Were from him, not Dusk." Logan finished in a soft growl. "So the kid's still alive."

"More than that - he's still conscious." The Professor added softly, steepling his fingers. "However, he must not have enough strength to influence his body's actions on a regular basis. He needed Rouge's intervention, her split-second weakening of the body's powers, in order to pull Dusk back into the recesses of his mind."

Storm tried to quell the eager swell in the depths of her heart, trying not to get her hopes up in case she was wrong, but it proved impossible. "So there's still a way to get Kouichi back, Professor?"

"Perhaps." The professor nodded to her, understanding her anxiety. "But we must be careful. Dusk is an unpredictable, unstable individual with motives that we can only attempt to fathom. It's quite likely that he's absolutely lost his mind."

"That's for sure!" Kurt shuddered from his crouched position on a near-by chair. "Come on, he vants to vipe out everybody!"

Iceman nodded, rubbing the bandages tied around a wound on his upper arm. "They whole lot of them. They've got to be completely cracked."

"You can say that again." Junpei Shibuyama, the Lightening Bug who had returned alongside Scott and Jean, stretched out his still-aching shoulders from his seat beside Shadowcat. "These are the same guys who used me for a battery. They're all nuts. nuts, no doubt about it."

"It's more than that." Hank nodded, putting one furry hand to his chin contemplatively. "This is a man who was willing to blow up his entire base and everyone in the surrounding states just to get rid of one teenage boy…"

The rest of the group, save Professor X himself, turned and stared at the blue-furred mutant with rather dumb expressions. After a moment, Kitty finally spoke. "Um… like, what?"

Hank sighed and crossed to a chalkboard, clearing away what had been the notes for the Professor's English class not too long before. "You kids said that Dusk tried to force-feed Kouji some of his dark matter, correct?"

"Yeah, that's why he's still in the hospital." Scott muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"And he also said that dark matter would 'convert a human body into energy'. In other words, it would behave much in the way that scientists theorize that antimatter would react when it came in contact with normal matter." Beast picked up a piece of chalk and started writing on the board. "I'll assume that you are all familiar with Einstein's famous equation."

"What…E MC2?" Jean ventured.

"Yes, that's right." Beast wrote it out on the board, only he filled in all of the words instead of their letter representations. "Energy equals mass times the speed of light constant squared. It's an equation for figuring out how much force would be created if a physical object somehow underwent the transformation from matter into pure energy."

"Like…so?" Kitty asked, cocking her head to one side in mild confusion.

"So…" Hank took the equation down another level, sketching out the quantities in a way that Bobby and Kitty, both with only a mathematic education level up to half a year of Algebra Two, could understand. "Let's say that Kouji's body has a mass of about…oh, 55 kilograms is a decent weight for a fit Japanese teenage. That number would be multiplied by the Speed of Light Constant - about 186,000 miles a second, or by scientific standards, nearly 300,000 kilometers. Then the resulting number from _that_ equation is then squared, multiplied by itself. And the end result…"

Bobby let out a low whistle, and Kurt fell off of his seat. "Holy cow…"

"…Roughly enough energy to destroy the underground base, most of the surrounding Rockies, and the states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington all in one blast." Hank sighed, setting down the chalk with a small clunk and a puff of white dust. "And, in the position it's in, it would probably knock California right into the sea, and the fallout from such an atomic-level explosion would make the entire North American continent-or what's left of it-complete uninhabitable."

The room was silent as this information was processed by the gathered youths, as well as the three adults standing nearby. After a long while, the Professor took in a deep sigh and spoke.

"There you have it, then." He said softly. "That is exactly the kind of madman we are dealing with here."

Another long silence, then Scott blew up his bangs. "So then…how do we stop him?"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Kouji was currently occupying one of the hospital beds in the infirmary, though it was rather unwillingly.

He wanted to go back to his bedroom. But he still had bandages on, and they were still making sure that he hadn't been too badly injured by Dusk's attacks, so he had to stay here. It didn't really matter, anyway, since if he did go back to his room he'd just do the same thing he was now: lie down on his side and stare rather mournfully at the wall.

Kouji didn't pout. It just wasn't something he did, for many reasons, including that it just didn't look right on him. But he was perfectly able to keep a mild glower of depression on his lips while staring into one particular point in space in a rather useless attempt to distract himself.

Despite his best efforts, he couldn't wrench the image of his brother's face twisted into that evil, conniving grin as the darkness tightened around his throat. Contemplatively, his hand drifted up to brush against the bandages wrapped around his bruised, aching neck. The darkness which, under his brother's touch, had always been like a soft, gentle puff of mist, had turned as thorny and hard as an unbreakable whip. And that…monster…that had twisted its nature so was still in his brother's body, controlling him, manipulating him…

"Hey buddy. You doin' okay?"

Kouji rolled over and gave Takuya a sullen glare. The goggle-wearing teen grinned somewhat hesitantly and gave a light shrug, pulling the door closed behind him. "And least you've got your energy back."

"Shut up, Kanbara."

"Now that's not nice." Takuya sat down in chair beside his friend's bed. "You could at least use 'Flare' or somethin' like that. We're friends enough for you to use my first name."

Kouji didn't say anything, just rolled over with a light huff and glared away again.

Takuya sighed, leaning back into the chair. "…I'm sorry."

"For what?" Kouji snapped, not turning.

"That we couldn't get him back."

Kouji paused a moment in his glaring, a light frown slipping over his lips. "…You didn't do anything."

"That's just it." Takuya sighed, standing anxiously. He took off his hat-and-goggles set, running an anxious hand through his mahogany hair. "We didn't…we couldn't anything to help him. After all that way, after all that work, we still couldn't bring him back. And…I'm sorry."

Kouji sighed and pushed himself up with a few blurry little blinks. He pulled his legs up to sit cross-legged, the light blankets and crisp sheets pulled up around his waist. "Don't be."

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because you'll just make me feel worse."

Takuya turned back. Yang was holding his head in his hands, elbows resting on his knees as he stared down into his lap, hair cascading over one shoulder and drooping into his face. "Kouji…"

"He's my brother." The dark-haired boy said softly, gripping the sheets between his hands. "If anyone's going to help him, it's going to be me, and if I screw up in the process, it's my own damn fault. I don't need you feeling all guilty about it, too."

Takuya's amber gaze softened as he reached out to put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Buddy…You know you're not alone on this, right?"

Kouji remained silent, motionless. Takuya cracked what he hoped was a supportive grin and leaned down a bit more. "We're all right here with you, pal. We'll get him back, no problem."

Kouji was quiet for so long that Takuya nearly gave up. But just as he pulled his hand away, the boy in the bed spoke. "You really mean that?"

"Of course I do." Takuya grinned almost mischievously. "I don't want to starve to death more than anybody else. And besides, Kouichi's one of us. We've gotta get him back, otherwise the team just work anymore, you know?"

Kouji let a small grin cross over his lips, ever-modest and slightly comforted. Takuya's smile widened sharply in response. "Don't you worry, pal. We'll get him back, no problem!"

"Hn. If you say so." Kouji smirked just a little, and turned his head to look out the window at the ever-present light of day glistening through the glass without a care.

_**TBC…**_

"…_close enough to use my first name."_ - In other words, Kouji is enough of a friend to call him 'Takuya' and nothing else, rather than by his last name or 'Kanbara-kun'. The Japanese are very particular about such things.


	9. Reasons and Relocation

For credit where credit is due - the incident with Dusk and Kouichi here is her idea. Thank you.

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 9: Reasons and Relocation**

Takuya sighed, closing the door of the hospital room behind him and brushing a few straw brown locks out of his eyes. He rubbed his head with a slightly pained expression, then stuffed his hands into his pockets and started off down the hall.

"Is…Is he doing okay?"

Takuya turned back. Zephyr…that is, Izumi, as his mind quickly reminded him… was approaching from the other end of the hall. She clutched a tray of food in front of her, shifting somewhat nervously from one foot to the next.

Flare was a little disoriented by the question, stuttering, "Who…Kouji?"

"Of course." Izumi paused by the door and glanced at it concern. "I…I wanted to bring him something to eat, if he's awake. Is he?"

"Oh yeah, he's up." Takuya grinned and sauntered back over to her. "But you don't hafta worry about Yang. He's a real tough guy, he'll be back on his feet in no time."

Izumi nodded hesitantly, biting the knuckle of one finger gently in a concerned manner. "But still…Isn't he hungry?"

Takuya thought about it a bit, then sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, maybe it'll be safer if I just took it to him."

The wind-user looked surprised and then a bit angry, so Takuya quickly cut her off. "It's just that Kouji's got a real temper and he's not particularly trustworthy, so you suddenly popping up in there while he's all worried like this is just asking to be attacked. Trust me, it's much less likely that he'd take my head off over it, so just let me take care of it, okay?"

Izumi studied him a moment, at least, he could only assume it was a moment as it felt more like an hour with her pretty blue-green eyes scanning him up and down quietly. But after that long, eternal moment, she finally smiled.

"Why, Flare." She laughed, pushing the tray back into his hands. "I had no idea you were such a gentlemen."

"Uh…My name…" Takuya stuttered a moment, slightly surprised by how adorable the girl's smile really was. "My name's Takuya. Takuya Kanbara."

"Takuya." Izumi tried it out once and smiled a bit wider. "That's nice. See you around."

Takuya followed her with his eyes a moment as she set off briskly down the hall, but managed to stutter out his mental worries after a moment. "He-Hey, wait a sec!"

"Yes?" She turned back, hands held coyly behind her back as she smiled again.

Takuya gulped a bit. He never was particularly good at talking to girls. "If… If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing with…with Dusk's group?"

Izumi's face fell and Takuya rushed to cover up what might have been a rude question. "It's not that I don't tryst you or anything and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, it's just that you seem so nice and I don't really get how you could wind up with a bunch of jerks like that…That is I mean…I mean…"

"It's Mercurious."

Takuya stopped his wild babbling and stared at her a moment. "What? The green guy with the mirror?"

"That's right." Izumi nodded quietly, a slightly sad look on her face. "He's my…cousin."

"Your _cousin_?"

Izumi nodded again with a sigh, kicking at the carpet rather worthlessly. "My parents died a couple of years ago…car accident. He's my only living relative, so I was sent to him. At the time, he was just about to start up this 'revival' of his and thought it was a 'sign' that a mutant girl suddenly showed up on his doorstep. He drafted me into the group and wouldn't let me leave. It…sucked."

Takuya winced in sympathy, then tried to put on a bright smile. "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore." He grinned at her brightly. "You can always stick around with us."

"You really think so?" She asked, giving him a small, thankful smile.

"Sure." He backed against the door, leaning down to twist the knob loose with his elbow. "See, that's the thing about the X-Men…We're like one big family."

Izumi smiled at him, wide and pretty. Blushing hotly, Takuya stepped backwards, pushing open the door and slid into Yang's hospital room.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

It was certainly strange when you thought about it, trying to struggle free from your own mind, but right now it seemed like the least Kouichi could do.

The heavy chains dreamed up by the parasite currently in forced control of his mind managed to hold fast as he pulled at them. It was rather useless, he knew, they were far too heavy and tied far too tightly for him to struggle free of his own accord, especially after an extra layer of weight had been added to prevent further 'escape attempts'. He imagined that, had he currently been the primary owner of his corporal form, his wrists and arms would be bloody and bruised from all the abuse they were getting from the hard, sharp metal. But despite that, he continued to pull and twist and try to squirm his limbs through the bonds with various kind of contortionist imitations.

The air right in front of him began to swirl and melt. Kouichi relaxed and let his tense 'muscles' slump into the chains, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at Dusk's twisted mutation of his own features, the disgusting smirk that his 'master' always wore when he came.

"_Just a little more…"_ Kouichi told himself silently, curling up a bit. "_Just a few more days, then Kouji's bound to…"_

A hand suddenly seized his chin and wrenched his head up, the force and resulting gasp of surprise throwing his eyes open. Dusk smirked at him, still holding firmly, his nails digging into the boy's flesh. "Good morning."

Kouichi glared. Dusk pouted a bit and pretended to be hurt. "Oh, no hello? Someone must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed."

Kouichi remained silent. Dusk's smirk widened and he continued.

"We're nearly there, you know. Dear old Mother Russia, just like when we left it. You'll love it here. It's nice and dark, just like you and me."

Kouichi pulled his head back sharply and found himself on the floor again, but he refused to say anything. He just bit his lip and coughed a few times as the chains thumped against his chest painfully.

"So, you still don't have anything to say to me?" Dusk sniffed lightly and tested the chains with his hands. "I can't imagine why. After all, there's no one else for you to talk to now. You and I need to learn to get along with each other."

Kouichi didn't say a word, but his glare did intensify a few levels. Dusk clicked his tongue a few times. "Well, if you're not going to put your voice to good use, I guess you won't mind if I borrow it for a bit."

Before Kouichi could react, the parasite reached down and seized him roughly by the throat. The boy gagged and coughed as a hand so much like his own began to squeeze roughly, increasing the pressure on his throat and vocal cords. The strangling grip grew tighter and tighter with each passing second and, though this spiritual form did not need 'air' in any real sense of the word, the pain alone was enough to make his senses swim around him.

Dusk smirked and increased his grip just a fraction more, pushing a bit of his mutant power into the assault as well. With a strangled gurgle, Kouichi let out a violent cough, and something small and black came flying from his lips.

Dusk caught it easily in his free hand. The object in question was a small, black sphere about the size of a marble, smooth and glossy as though it was made of polished obsidian.

"Here we go." He smirked, letting go of his prisoner's neck. "Imagination is such a delightful thing in this realm, is it not?"

Kouichi dropped back to the ground, clutching his neck. For the first time, he looked up at the controlling spirit, glaring harshly and opening his mouth to tell him exactly what he thought of him…

But when he tried to speak, nothing came out but air.

Dusk smiled as the boy floundered, a hand touching his neck in surprise. He tried again, getting a mild squeak this time, but nothing like words could ever be heard from him.

"Lost something?" Laughed the man, holding the ball between two fingers smartly. "I've got it right here, but since you didn't want to use it, I guess I'll just borrow it for a while."

With another low chuckle, he slipped his hands into his pockets and turned away, disappearing out into the consciousness of the body. The boy let out a few more pathetic squeaks, desperate to say something, anything, but nothing would come. With one dry, unvoiced sob, he put his head back on the ground and sank into the chains again.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"Lord?" Mercurious called regally, knocking on the door leading to their master's private chambers within the depths of the ship. "My lord, we have arrived."

The silver door slide open quite suddenly, and Mercurious took a step back in mild surprise. In door stood a young boy with short, black hair, dressed in a fine black suit, specially designed by the Master himself, his chosen uniform to show his status above all others. A pair of black sunglasses sat coyly on his nose, subtly covering the boy's navy blue eyes. It took a only a moment for the blonde man to remember - this boy was new form taken by his Master.

"Mercurious?" He said softly, a question that needed no answer.

The green-robed mutant recovered himself and moved into attention. "We have arrived, my Lord. We are but waiting for thy orders."

Blue eyes glanced at him coldly. "What is the local time?"

"2 P.M., my Lord." Said Mercurious smartly. "The winter sun will set in just two hours."

"Good…Good." The boy smirked lightly, fingering a small black marble in one hand. For a moment he was quiet, his eyes trained on the shining, gleaming black orb, and then he glanced sharply at the attending mutant. "Get to work. I want the base operational before nightfall. And make sure that no one ventures into the Proto-chamber…that is for me alone. Understand?"

"Yes, my Lord." Mercurious saluted and disappeared to spread the word.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"There's just one thing I don't get, Chuck."

The Professor turned away from his office's wide window to face their 'Wolverine' with a light nod. "And what is that?"

"Dusk wants Yang dead, right?" Logan crossed his arms over his chest, frowning at the moonlight that drizzled in through the window. "But what for? What does one kid have that's such a threat?"

Xavier nodded softly, folding his hands to rest his head on top of them. "From what we can tell, contact with Kouji has previously broken through the defenses keeping Kouichi's body under Dusk's control." He said softly, his dark eyes holding a bit of a sparkle to them. "Perhaps, Dusk fears him because Kouji is his weakness. Something that could break through and steal his 'host' away from him, forcing Dusk back into the recesses of Kouichi's mind where he could never be reached again."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think the kid can do all that?"

"I'm certain of it." Charles smirked just a bit, finishing off a cup of tea. "I believe that weakness was one of the factors allowing Kouichi to reach out and save Kouji from Dusk's attempted murder. If Kouji's light managed to weaken Dusk's dark energies just as Rouge's touch weakened his physical power, it is quite possible that Kouichi could see the breach from wherever he is trapped and reach out to drag Dusk back into a state of non-existence, if only for a short while.

"Besides, even if he isn't capable of breaking through the barrier alone, Kouji is bound to try. His brotherly devotion insists upon it."

At that comment, Logan allowed a light smirk to cross over his lips. "Yeah. It's gonna get him killed, isn't it?"

"Not if we can help it, Logan." Said Charles Xavier, and wheeled his chair back out the office door.

Logan followed the bald man with his eyes, noting the tenseness in the half of the body that was still connected to its nervous system. "Where're you going, Chuck?"

"Outside." Professor X said softly. "And I believe you should come as well. It seems we have some…visitors."

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

The alarm system of the Xavier Institute had been ripped out of its place by some thick, over-eager vines, but, given that said intruders suddenly dropped from the sky on a silver disk made almost entirely of iron, it really wasn't missed too much.

Word spread quickly through the Institute, accumulating quite the eager little 'welcoming party' to meet their 'guest'. The angry, defensive group that assembled on the grassy lawn included Rogue, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Nightcrawler and Flare, with Yuki, Zephyr and Lightning Bug tagging along out of curiosity. Soon afterwards, the Professor and Wolverine showed up, just as Magneto lowered the disk to the ground and stepped off it with Mystique and Avalanche at his side.

"Well, well." Chuckled the magnetically-powered mutant as his disk shot back into his hand. "Such a nice welcome. I'm so glad we were expected."

"Cut the jokes, Magneto." Sneered Rogue harshly.

"Shut it, skunk-hair!" Avalanche snapped back, gripping his hands into fists.

"Why you…" Scott took a step forward, reaching for his visor, but stopped as the Professor raised one hand.

Professor X wheeled himself closer, his blue eyes focused on Magneto. "What do you want now, Eric?"

"No need to fear, Charles." Whispered the white-haired mutant quietly, turning to his old acquaintance as Avalanche and Mystique exchanged courtesy glares with various members of the gathered X-Men. "I am merely here to offer a temporary truce as we both go into battle against a common enemy."

"You've already offered." Xavier said quietly, picking up a small disk from where it rested on the arm of his wheelchair. "And we have gotten all the help we will need from your Brotherhood as is."

"Ah, yes, of course." Magneto waved his glove hand dismissively. "The precise location of Dusk's main base, our _only_ bargaining chip, has already be handed over, hasn't it? Therefore, we have nothing to offer you in exchange for teamwork…"

None of the gathered students like the tone of their long-time enemy's voice. Nor, for that matter, did the Professor, who narrowed his eyes. "What are you getting at, Eric?"

In the back of the group, Junpei shuddered suddenly, letting off a brief electric charge as he did. "Man, it's tense." He muttered, brushing off the small yellow sparks that had alighted in Izumi's hair.

Tomoki leaned forward and whispered to Takuya and Bobby. "Who are those guys?"

"About thirty percent of the Brotherhood of Mutants." Iceman hissed back, not taking his eyes off of Avalanche for a moment.

"All right," Izumi sighed, brushing her hair back. "But who are they?"

"They're mutant extremists," Takuya muttered, feeling his cheeks start to burn and wishing the blonde had picked another boy's shoulder to lean over. "Like…terrorists. They believe in mutant supremacy over humans…"

Their whispered conversation was then dropped, as Magneto suddenly pulled a rumpled fold of heavy paper and a high-frequency cell phone from the folds of his rather dramatic cape.

"Dusk's men have only this day returned to their original headquarters only a few miles from the small Kohtek Village in far northern Siberia." Announced the old mutant grandly, presenting the items in front of him. "Since the reappearance of this threat, several my men have been stationed there, examining and infiltrating the base. They have, as a result, managed to map out the entire location - except for the very interior, where only Dusk can ever achieve access and where his Proto machine is located."

"Proto?" Jean asked softly.

Izumi felt the need to speak up. "That's the name he gave the machine that makes dark matter. It's supposed to be huge, but nobody can even get near it besides Dusk!"

All eyes were on her for a moment, making the girl blush hotly and slide behind Takuya, who blushed as well. Magneto, on the other hand, just smirked. "Indeed so."

He turned back to Xavier, a calm expression on his face. "However, the Brotherhood of Mutants cannot invade such a secure location with our current powers. Nor can the X-Men, indeed, more strength is needed from both our sides for a frontal attack to succeed."

Scott flexed his hand. "Don't tell me…"

"We are willing to provide the information if you, Charles, are willing to work alongside us." Magneto directed his speech calmly and carefully. "A temporary truce will be declared, and we shall join forced against this common enemy of both man and mutant. What do you say?"

"Chuck…" Logan growled, crossing his arms tightly over his chest and glaring at Magneto. "I don't like this. What about Yin?"

"Remember, Charles." Magneto's eyes glinted slightly. "The longer we hesitate here, the more firmly Dusk gains control over that boy's body. Quite soon, it will be impossible to remove him, and your dear Yin will simply cease to exist."

The Professor contemplated this for a long, long while, his hands folded quietly in front of him. Then he looked up with a serious expression on his face.

"What did you have in mind?"

_**TBC…**_

Siberia is so far north that in the winter, they have about 5 hours of sunlight. I don't know the exact times, so I'm just guesstimating that daylight is around noon.

I like Junpei's constant electrical charge. It has so much potential to enhance reactions and expressions.

Kohtek is the name of the small village where Cygnus (Swan) Saint Hyoga was raised and trained in _Saint Seiya_. I love that series, it's my favorite old-school anime/manga by far. I'm glad they started to bring it over now after almost 20 years.


	10. Forbidden

Sorry this chapter took so long, everybody. For most of the summer, I've been concentrating on completing the manuscript of my first novel, _Akari_, which is nearly finished now, so I've been kind of slow with my updates. I hope you will stick with the stories anyway, as I don't plan to give up on them any time soon.

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 10: Forbidden**

"Yang! Just what do you think you're doing?"

Kouji scowled up at Ororo from his place on the infirmary floor, currently half-way through the fifth stretch of the floor exercise he'd been adhering to every morning since his tenth birthday. "Warming up."

"You're not supposed to be out of bed." Storm sighed, her voice lightly accusing. "We don't know how badly you were hurt by Dusk's attack, you could be simply making your wounds that much worse…"

"I'm fine." Kouji muttered, reaching for his toes again. "I'm not just going to sit here and let that…that _thing_ have my brother."

Ororo sighed again and crossed the room to knell beside the boy, who pointedly ignored her and returned to his stretching. The dark-haired woman's blue eyes were slightly sad as she reached out to touch his shoulders. "Kouji, please. Overexerting yourself isn't going to help Kouichi…"

"I'm _not_ overexerting myself!" Kouji snapped. "I'm _fine_!"

"I know it feels that way…" Storm closed her eyes and rubbed her temples in minor aggravation. "But if it turns out you're wrong about that, and you hurt yourself worse now, we won't be able to take you when we move out tomorrow."

Kouji stopped and looked up, his eyes narrowed sharply. "What do you mean, 'move out'?"

Storm let a small smile slip onto her lips. She thought that would get his attention. "Tomorrow morning, we're leaving for Kohtek, Siberia. That's where Dusk's main base is, where the machine to block out the sun is located. We're going to take him out, once and for all."

Kouji twisted a bit and curled into a relaxed cross-legged position, scowling lightly. "We're…really going?"

"Indeed." Storm nodded.

"Me too?"

"If you don't hurt yourself." Ororo chuckled lightly, standing. "Now get back in bed so I can check you over and clear your wounds."

Kouji scowled again, but uncurled from his stretches and climbed back into the hospital bed with a sigh. Ororo's smile became more bright and honest as she came to the bedside and popped a thermometer into Kouji's mouth.

Yang grumbled against the plastic device in minor annoyance until it beeped once and was removed. Ororo brushed her hair back calmly as she confirmed that his temperature was, indeed, normal. "Did you say something?"

"I said, 'What's the catch?'" Kouji repeated with a frown. "Last time we went in, we got creamed. Why should it be any different this time?"

Storm was quiet for a moment as she checked the boy's blood pressure with the standard cuff, then spoke as she removed the Velcro. "We have more people on our side this time."

"And where did we get these new people?" Kouji asked, his eyes narrowing sharply again.

The woman's silence lasted longer this time, as she gently removed the coiling white bandages from the teen's bruised neck. "Hm…These seem to have healed well."

"Storm." Kouji's voice dropped to a dangerously low tone. "Who are we working with for this mission? Who brought all these 'extra' people in?"

Ororo sighed again, not looking directly at the boy as she spoke. "The Brotherhood of Mutants."

_"What?"_

"Yang, please understand." Storm soothed, her fingers coming to brush against the bruises and abrasions of the boy's throat. "Magneto has information that we desperately need if we're going to get everyone in and out of there unharmed. The only way we can gain access to it is to work with the Brotherhood."

"But those guys won't save him!" Kouji exclaimed, his face and eyes furious. "If they get to Kouichi before any of us, they'll kill him!"

"Which is precisely why it's better to work with them, rather than against them." Ororo's hand moved to grip Kouji's wrist somewhat roughly, bringing his attention to the particles of light that had drifted into his hand from the nearby lamp, which he quickly dispelled. The older woman continued to grip the boy's arm, more to steady herself than to comfort him as she prepared herself for what the Professor had asked her to do. It was for both of them, after all…they both needed to hear it.

"Yang, listen to me." She said slowly, moving her hand down to cover his. "Dusk is moving his operation to this base in order to reactivate his machine, to spread his Dark Matter over the sky endlessly. The sun will be blocked out and the world will die. Everyone."

Kouji growled his particular little lupine growl, gripping the sheets with his hands. "I know that."

"But you don't know this," Storm took another deep breath, steadying her own emotions. "Tomorrow, when we go…If we get down the very center of the base, if we get to Dusk, but not to Yin…Kouji, if we can't reach Kouichi somewhere inside his mind, we _will_ have to kill him."

"No!" Kouji exclaimed, snapping his head up. "We can't do that!"

"We have to." Storm whispered again, gripping tighter. "We can't put one person's life above the everyone in the world's."

"But…the Professor…"

"The Professor gave the order, Yang." Storm said calmly, evenly. "If we can't reach Yin, his consciousness, his heart somewhere underneath Dusk's control, immediately after we get to him, we won't hold back. All of us will use all our power to kill him."

Kouji wasn't looking at her now. He gripped the sheets angrily in his hands and glared at his knees, holding back either tears or rage, from the way his shoulders were shaking. Storm reached over slowly and put a hand on his far shoulder.

"Kouji, please try to understand." She urged, her voice wavering. "Right now, it doesn't matter what we feel…what any of us feel. We can't put one person's life above the safety of the entire world. Kouichi wouldn't want to be used like this. You know he'd rather die than allow something like that."

Kouji gripped the sheets again, tight enough that his knuckles turned white, and he licked his lips nervously before a hesitant whisper pushed past his lips. "…I can't do it, Storm."

"What did you say?" Storm raised an eyebrow, the whisper had been to low for her to hear.

"I _can't do it_, Storm!" Kouji's voice raised to an angry shout, echoing off the hospital room walls. "I can't do something like that! I won't kill Kouichi, and I'll never let you or any of the others do it, either!"

Storm backed off a bit, her white eyebrow raising slowly. "You'd risk the entire world for Yin?"

"I don't _care_ about the entire world!" Kouji snapped, his right hand coiling in on itself as a small ball of light began to steadily grown in its palm. "I _care_ about my brother! And I'd blow all of you away before I'd ever let _you_ hurt him, either!"

Storm closed her eyes a moment, her hands now folded in her lap, as far from touching the boy as she could be. "So…you won't change your mind? You've made your decision?"

Kouji's eyes narrowed, his body tensed. "Yes."

"Then I'm sorry," Ororo stood quietly, brushing her lab coat off as she moved to the door, "but we won't be able to take you on the mission tomorrow."

"_What_?"

"We cannot allow your feelings for Yin to endanger the world." Ororo forced her voice to become cold and ever so slightly harsh, retreating to the door without looking back. "You will remain here, and if we can, we will bring him back. If we can't, we'll end it."

Kouji sputtered. "You can't…can't do that!"

"We can, Yang." Storm muttered unemotionally. "We have to."

"Storm, please." Kouji didn't like how his voice had lowered to begging, but he just couldn't help it. "You can't be serious. I thought you cared about him, too!"

"I do. We all do." Ororo whispered, closing her eyes for just a moment. "And that is why we'll do this, Kouji. One way or another, we'll set him free."

Then she stepped out of the door and closed it quietly behind her, the lock clicking into place. Kouji leapt out of the bed and ran to the door, yanking at the knob, which rattled fiercely but stubbornly refused to open the door. There was no lock on this side, no way to open the door, and with the room specially-made to resist any sort of mutant reaction from the inside, there was no way out.

"Storm!" Yelled Yang, shaking the knob with one hand as he pounded on the door with his other fist. "You can't do this! Let me out of here! Unlock this door! Storm! STORM!"

There was no answer, and after a long while, he gave up. Kouji turned around and leaned against the door, sliding to the sterile white floor. Feeling overwhelmingly weak, he pulled his knees in and rested his forehead on them, silently cursing everything he could think of to curse and silently calling out for one person more than any other.

"_Nii-san…"_

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"_Nii-san…"_

The voice echoed through the dark mental realm like a gentle breeze, refreshing and cool against a rather frantic, uneasy mind. Kouichi lifted his head painfully and blinked at the blank darkness around him dizzily. He recognized the voice, it was the one he'd known as long as his own, the spirit who'd shared his life and his mind.

_Kouji…_

The chained boy tried to call out to the voice that addressed him, but he couldn't say a word. He couldn't respond, he couldn't even make out a little squeak without tearing his already-strained vocal cords. His breath, if you could call it that here, hissed in his throat, the only noise that left his form.

"_Kouichi…Nii-san…"_

Kouichi lay his head down again as the voice grew closer. He wanted so much for this…this nightmare…to be just that, nothing some horrible, terrible dream, and that any moment now he would wake again and be safely back at the Institute, safe with his brother and his friends, not here, not with his body out of his control, about to commit this terrible crime…

"_Nii-san…_Nii-san!"

Kouichi opened his eyes again, to his brother's face. For a moment he thought that maybe, just maybe, he'd finally woken up…but then he realized that Kouji's form was indistinct, transparent, like a ghost. It wasn't really him, it was another level of connection, weak and futile with all the distance between the two twins.

"Oh god, Nii-san." Kouji's…spirit, doppelganger, whatever he was…crouched over the chained form. His hands passed over the chains without touching them, indeed, it seemed almost as if he had tried they would go straight through the tight metal binds as though air. "What has he done to you?"

Kouichi blinked up at his brother and tried to speak to him, but not a sound came past his moving lips. Kouji's brow furled in concern. "What is it, Kouichi?"

The elder twin struggled to speak, his bound hand moving slowly to his throat in a pained manner. He mouthed wordlessly, his face pained, his voice absent. His eyes watered…Kouji was _here_, he could hear him, speak to him! He had to warn him, had to tell him…

"Don't worry, Nii-san." Kouji's voice whispered, his incorporeal hand moving to not-touch his brother's cheek. "I won't let them hurt you. No matter what, I won't let them do it…I won't let them kill you."

And silently, for lack of a voice, the tears started to fall.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"Ta'kya!"

"Ack!"

Takuya jumped a foot and fell off his bed as Kurt suddenly bamph'ed out of the air, dropping gracefully onto the carpeted floor. The blue-furred mutant had a wide-eyed look of surprise and a sort of eager anxiety, but Flare hardly noticed as he hoisted himself up from the floor.

"Dangit, Blue, how many times do I have to tell you to knock before you just…"

"Did'ja hear?" Kurt burst out, hopping on all fours to get closer to his friend, which would have looked profoundly weird had his hologram-inducer not been currently switched off. "Storm said that Yin can't go vith us tomorrov! They're leavin' him here!"

"What?" Takuya shot straight up. "There's no way! Kouji would never agree to something like…"

"He didn't agree to it!" Kurt shook his head fervently. "Storm locked him in the hospital room. He couldn't get out if he vanted to!"

Takuya pulled himself to his feet, frowning. There was something in his gut that was definitely not happy with this. Kouji loved Kouichi, their connection was more than most siblings ever had, the two of them would have done anything for each other. Storm…and the Professor, who almost certainly gave the order…must have known that. So why would they…?

"How come they looked him up?"

"Vell, from vhat I heard…" Kurt leaned forward a bit, his ears twitching. "Storm told him about Magneto and the Professor's plan, un he freaked. He vouldn't vork vith it, they couldn't trust him not to do something rather…stupid. So he vas locked up, and he's not coming tomorrow."

Takuya scowled. "Does anyone else think that's really not fair? To him?"

"Yah." Kurt nodded. "He's veally upset about it, too. Kitty could hear him yelling from the second floor!"

Takuya groaned and sat on his bed, shaking his head slowly. "Yup. Sounds like an angry Kouji…"

"Someone aught to talk to 'im, yah?" Kurt grinned in a very supportive-yet-somehow-forceful manner. "Somebody he trusts enough to listen to really vell."

Of course he should…

Takuya sighed and shook his head again, already thinking that this was a bad idea, but deciding that he really didn't have any choice. "Fine. Bamph me in, Blue. Let's go tame the savage beast."

_**TBC…**_

I don't know why Kurt has trouble saying Takuya's name. It's something about the accent. That's how it sounded when I tried to pronounce it with a German accent, anyway. It's kinda cool.


	11. Ploting Plots of Plotfulness

Short, I know, but I wanted to get it out before I leave tomorrow. I held back from reading through all of my new manga acquisitions to finish this, so be thankful. (Unfortunately, they still didn't have Vol. 2 of _Loveless_, so I'm still not able to continue on 'Balance', gosh-darnit…)

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 11: Plotting Plots of Plotfulness**

_BAMPH_.

Kouji growled lightly at the familiar sound and smell of Kurt's reappearance, but stubbornly refused to turn away from where he was glaring at the blank white wall. He didn't want to talk, didn't want the blue-furred mutant's sympathy, didn't want to hear any of it…

"Hey, buddy." Takuya's voice suddenly broke through the defensive barrier, and a warm hand descended on Kouji's shoulder. "How're you doing?"

Kouji glared at him. "Are you going to ask me that every time you come in here?"

"It's an honest question." Takuya cringed and pulled his hand away. Kouji's glare was scary, really scary in a way the goggle head had never seen before. It was more than the angry snarl he usually got, it was cold and harsh, almost dead. "And…I'm serious this time. You okay?"

"Do I look okay?" Kouji snapped.

"Vell…no." Kurt shook his head, his blue ears twitching slightly. He shrank back, still crouched on all fours, when Kouji turned that glare on him. "I-I mean…you don't look bad or anything…"

Takuya stepped in to intervene. "We're just worried about you, buddy. I know this is hard to deal with…"

"'Hard to deal with'?" Kouji snapped, sitting straight up and focusing his cold glare on both of the intruders. "You think this is 'hard to deal with'? I'm _stuck_ here, they won't even unlock the door, and all of _you guys_ are headin' out saying that you're ready to kill my bro-"

"Say what?"

Kouji stopped and stared. Takuya's auburn-brown eyes were wide with horror at the very thought, his mouth falling open speechlessly. Behind him, all of the fur on Kurt's body was standing as rigid as his arms, which seemed to have locked at both elbow and shoulder, and his tail was sticking straight back like a blue flagpole. "Vhy…Vhy vould ve do something like that?"

Kouji's glare vanished and his right eyebrow quirked slightly. "You guys…didn't know?"

"Not us." Takuya shook his head, glancing at Kurt. "You remember anything like that, Blue?"

"Not a thing." Kurt shook his head, his tail crumpling into a more relaxed position behind him, swaying restlessly back and forth. "Unless…Ta'kya, did you go to that briefing this morning?"

Flare stared at him blankly. "We had a briefing this morning?"

"Vell, that answers that." Kurt scratched his head awkwardly. "I didn't know it either, un Scott vas yelling at me about missing it. He seemed edgier than usual, though. Like he vas upset over something."

"I'd be mad too, if I heard something like that." Takuya crossed his arms over his chest and scowled, a worried look in his eyes. "That's just…not fair. Kouichi hasn't done anything, Dusk's just using him. How could we even be considering something like that? The Professor would never…"

"The Professor," Kouji sighed, pushing to his feet slowly, "gave the order. No one's supposed to hold back if they reach him."

Kurt let out a low whistle, his ears drooping sadly. "Oh, man. It's got to be really bad if the Professor is willing to do something like that…"

"I bet it wasn't his decision." Takuya's frown deepened visibly. "Magneto probably talked him into it, that rotten snake-in-the-grass…"

He cut off with a sigh. For a long while, the trio in the hospital room were silent. Then, finally, Kouji spoke up again. "Are you guys going to do it?"

"Do vhat?"

"What they say. What the Professor…and Magneto…Want you to do."

Takuya wrinkled his nose and looked offended. "Hell no!"

"Kouichi's still in there!" Kurt insisted, his ears perking determinedly. "There's no vay ve'd do something like that! I could never do it!"

"Me neither." Takuya shook his head. "I couldn't bring myself to that, no matter what happened. He's our friend, and we owe it to him to do everything we can to save him from that…monster."

Kouji didn't say anything for a long moment, then sighed. "You should keep that quiet."

"Vhat?"

"How come?"

"Because I said the same thing. And they locked me in here." Kouji's face slid easily into an unidentifiable poker-mask, his mind obviously calculating his possibilities to form a strategy, maybe sensible, maybe desperate. "But I'm not staying. I won't just abandon my brother, not now, not after all this. And if I'm going to get out of here…I'm going to need your help. Both of you."

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Dusk paused a moment outside the grand doors of his inner sanctum, taking just a second to remove his sunglasses and view the glorious darkness. The great doors were made of fine black oak, towering over the small hallway that lead to them with magnificence. These were the doors through which only he was permitted to pass, where his beautiful creation, the Zero-One Machine had rested all of these years, fueled by the eternal energy of the Dark Matter he had created and stored beneath her, patiently awaiting the return of her Master.

And now, after all these years, he had returned to her.

He stepped forward and reached for the latches that would open the doors. They seemed much higher than he remembered them being, but then, his new form was much younger than his old one - not much more than a child, really, but it would soon be better with the way teenage growth hormones meshed with his presence in the soul.

In fact, the boy's body was already responding to his existence at the most basic of levels. His powers were flourishing wonderfully under Dusk's experienced care, and even his eyes were beginning to adapt to the conditions that Dusk remembered so well, rejecting the cutting beams of light that the scum of the Earth depended on and accepting the details and intricacies that the Darkness could show them.

As he contemplated this, Dusk pushed open his grand gateway and stepped inside, taking a light jump over the ten-inch wide gap between the entrance and the machine's rising platform. There was a light purple glow from far below him as he stepped out onto the platform, a glow that radiated from the fusion that he had developed to harbor his Matter's energy without destroying his precious Machine.

And there she sat, directly in the middle of the grand structure, was his beautiful, wonderful and spectacular machine. The evolution of his first device, the Proto, had born fruit in this spectacular masterpiece.

The Zero-One.

She was truly a magnificent device, made entirely of intricately wrought black iron, twisted in and around itself beautifully to form a spherical net of the beautiful black metal, suspended in mid-air by twisting, rope-like threads of the super-strong inky material, blending into the darkness around it, the soft purple glow of the beautiful fusion illuminating its shape even for the blind eyes of the ignorant masses. Nestled within the protective sphere sat a throne fit for the ruler of the night himself, and within it the extensions of his arms that would allow his new body to meld with the machine herself. And there, high above them both in the very tip of the cone that rested so deeply within the center of the mountain that made up the base, was a small hole from which the Dark Matter would seep and cover the sky at its master's whim.

But it was not yet time.

Dusk smirked to himself at the thought, looking up at the moon that shown through the hole. The light was small, very dim, and the moon itself was little more than a silver. Just a one more day and it would cease to be in the sky for blessed twenty-four hours, and that, he had long since decided, would be when he made his decisive move.

"God said, 'Let there be light.'" He quoted with a smirk, slipping his sun glasses on again as he retreated out the doors. "Now once more, darkness shall be supreme…"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"All systems go?"

"Looks like it. Warming up the engines."

A few clicks of various switches at the entirety of the Blackbird jet was filled by a low humming sound and a familiar sense of vibration. In the back hold, the sounds of seatbelts being buckled could be heard as the team - which comprised of most, if not all, of the Institute's current residence, plus the portion of the Brotherhood of Mutants that had come to make the deal - pinned themselves firmly into the pull-down seats along the cargo haul's walls with harness-like seatbelts.

Professor X, Storm and Beast had taken the cockpit seats reserved for the commander, pilot and co-pilot, respectively, while Magneto had taken the fifth position at navigation in the very back, with Mystique (in her favored animal-shape of a raven) perched on his shoulder. The last seat, that normally meant for radar surveillance and defense, was currently empty and reserved for Logan, whose combat experience (though its origins were questionable) had always served the task well.

Professor X sighed and glanced back at Magneto. "Have you finished putting in the coordinates, Eric?"

"I've been finished for half an hour now, Charles." Magneto gave his bald former friend a conniving sort of grin. "Simply waiting on you."

The Professor refused to take the bait and turned back to the rest of the crew. "Storm, can you see how Yang is doing?"

"He's still in the room, hasn't moved an inch." Ororo's icy blue eyes turned to the screen that showed the confined boy's current state and location. Kouji was bunched up underneath the sheets, staring at the wall. All the camera could see was a head of blue-black hair. "Looks like he's sulking, but at least he isn't trying to break down the walls."

"He knows there is nothing he can do to stop this." Professor X sighed, closing his eyes. "Let us at least try to disavow his fears and bring his brother back safely, if we can."

Magneto sniffed a bit. "Good luck with that."

Storm gave him a sharp, withering glare.

About that moment, the door to the rear hatch opened and Logan stepped in from where he'd been taking a headcount. "We're missing two, Chuck. Flare and Nightcrawler haven't loaded yet."

"Honestly, we called for boarding half an hour ago." Beast sighed, shaking his blue furry head. "What on earth could those two be…"

_BAMPH!_

"Oh, _Kurt_! Did'ja like, have to bamph in _inside_ the plane?"

"Yeah, dude, it'll take forever for the smell to wear out!"

"Ah, _Entschuldigung_."

Logan sighed and blew his bangs up, turning to where Kurt and Takuya had just appeared in a heap on the cargo bay's floor, the others blowing away puffs of sulfurous smoke with their hands. "There you are."

Takuya grinned up at him and gave an awkward sort of wave. "H-Hey Wolverine…"

"Up you get, Sparky." Logan reached down and hauled both boys up by their arms, giving them a light shove once they were back on their feet. "You two, Blue. Get yourselves strapped in, we're about to take off."

The two nodded and slide back into the empty seats, buckling themselves with a few quick clicks as Logan returned to his seat. His sharp hearing could pick up their conversations, even over the roar of the engines as they started up. "So, like, what took you two so long?"

"Vell, you know. Ve just had some business to take care of…"

"Ready for take-off." Storm reported, flipping a last few switches and gripping the steering wheel with both hands tightly. "Let's fly."

And off they went into the gleaming blue sky.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

And, just about the time Storm's transmission monitoring the room cut out, the hologram of a dark-haired boy flickered and faded as the batteries of the projected small watch-like device projecting it fizzled out, revealing the line of pillows that had been stuffed under the blankets and sheets.

_**TBC…**_

I know, I know, you're all wondering: Why did Dusk rename his machine 'the Zero-One'? There are many reasons for this. The first is that I figured 'Proto' sounded kinda stupid and 'Zero-One' is much catchier. The second, that 'Zero-One' is the codename that they use for the project, since they are going to start on the New Moon, that is, Day 01 of the moon cycle. And thirdly, because Dusk plans to wipe out the world and start it anew, so Zero-One indicated a new beginning.

Plus, it's the name of the evil machine city from the _Matrix_ animated prequel, _The Second Renaissance_. It seemed appropriate, to my twisted mind.

In Evolution, Mystique takes the form of a raven quite a few times. I don't know if she does it anywhere else, but it's suiting, since her real name is Raven Darkholme.

And any way you look at it, Logan has a military past. In one of my favorite Evolution episodes, he remembers being a part of the Canadian military (wait…Canada has a military?) working with the famous Captain America to bust a Nazi concentration camp during World War Two. (That camp, coincidentally, included a teenage Jewish boy by the name of Eric Lansher…And that fact really says something about Logan's regenerative mutant power)

_Entschuldigung - _German for 'Sorry'. Quite a mouthful, ne? I prefer the Japanese - _Gomen nasai_.


	12. Stowaway

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 12: Stowaway**

"My Lord? My Lord!"

Dusk shook himself out of his euphoric trance, scowling as he pulled away from the Zero-One's main interface. Someone was knocking on the door, Mercurious's voice summoning him with an urgent tone - if it weren't for where he was now, he secret sanctum with his wonderful machine, the fool would have charged straight in. However, that would mean the fool's death, and Mercurious was not that much of a fool.

"Eh, Boss-Lord! We gots a big problem here, yeah?"

Dusk brushed his hair out of his eyes and slipped his sunglasses on as he quietly approached the grand doors, which occasionally reverberated with a pounding that could only be Arbor.

"My Lord…!"

"Step away from the door and shield your eyes if either of you value your worthless lives." Dusk announced in a low tone, confident that his voice would carry to the other side. "These sights are not for your feeble minds."

He waited only a second for the two to comply with his orders, then planted his hands firmly and pushed open the doors just enough for him to step out. Mercurious had raised his shield regally in front of his face, while Arbor had both hands clamped firmly over his eyes. Dusk smirked to himself and shoved the doors closed with an almighty crash, signaling his servant's relieve.

"Now. _What_ is it?"

Mercurious lowered his shield and cleared his throat. "I apologize for disturbing you, my Lord, but our radar has picked up an unknown craft matching the description of the 'X-Men's craft approaching from 30,000 feet."

Dusk lifted an eyebrow behind his glasses. "Coming in to land?"

"We suspect so, sir. They began their decent two minutes ago, and are heading in our direction."

For a moment, their leader pretended to look almost concerned. Then he smiled. "Well, then. We'll have to help them with the landing. After all, the icy tundra can be very…dangerous."

Both mutants looked absolutely confused, which entertained Dusk all the more. He turned to the tall, burly, brown-wrapped man with a confident smirk. "Arbor, why don't you take Grumble and go help our visitors down?"

It was only because the idea was simple and excessively violent that Arbor understood before Mercurious did. And when he did, a wide grin spread across his thick, fat face. "Like you say, right. We'll take good care of 'em, yeah."

He turned and slowly stomped away to find his partner. Mercurious, understanding dawning on his face, turned to his master with an otherwise blank expression. "My Lord, what would like me to do?"

"Set up a parameter." Dusk said simply, turning away from him. "And be ready for a ground attack. These are mutants we are dealing with, you know, a chosen breed only a level below ourselves. A simple plane crash, even one of Arbor and Grumble's abilities, will not be the end of them."

"Understood, my Lord." Mercurious clicked his heels together and bowed. "I will do as you say."

Dusk's smirked widened as his servant moved away. He reached into his pocket and removed the small black orb, toying with it between his fingers as though it was anything but what it really was.

"You should be happy, boy." He said softly, his voice pushing into the depths of his own mind to taunt his captive host. "It seems that your brother and friends are finally coming back to play…"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Part of Kouji thought that there had to have been a better way to sneak on for the mission, but on short notice, the rest of him argued that there hadn't been time for such things.

Kurt had bamph'ed him into the cargo bin beneath the Blackbird's main haul. Currently, he was curled between an emergency crate of water and some air tanks in case of water landing, a small ball of light clutched in his palm the only illumination in the dark hatch.

And, at 30,000 feet, there was only one thing currently occupying his senses: He. Was. Freezing.

Takuya had stolen Yang's battle suit from its storage place with the very good thought that the storage bin might not have been climate controlled, which it wasn't. The material of the suit itself was built specifically to resist harsh environments and any bizarre mutant powers that might crop up, and most of the battle suits had been specially reinforced for this trip so close to the artic circle.

That just meant that he wasn't getting frostbite. It didn't mean that he wasn't cold.

Kouji blew on his bare hands and rubbed them together, trying to keep warm in some pathetic fashion. He had to suppose it was better in here than it was out in the wind outside the plane, but that didn't keep him from being envious of all the people in the nice, warm bunker upstairs.

The plane jerked to one side and Kouji lifted a hand just in time to block a small box of cassette tapes (what was it doing there?) before it crashed down on his head. He grit his teeth and shoved the object back into place. "Damn useless…ACK!"

The plane lurched suddenly to one side, sending both Kouji and the cargo flying. Kouji braced himself just before landing on the side of a cardboard box of non-perishable foods, which broke under his weight and was preferable to slamming into the metal wall. He groaned lightly as he uncurled, the ball of light still tight in his hands so that nothing would catch fire or explode on contact.

He scowled up at the top of the craft as another lurch slid him and the box across the floor. "What the hell is going on?"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"What the _hell_ is going on?" Logan shouted, gripping his chair.

"You tell me!" Storm yelled back as she pulled the controls up in a desperate attempt to dodge another black, blocky projectile. "You're on radar!"

"They're not showing up on radar!"

"But that's _impossible_!"

"LOOK OUT!" Hank shouted in warning, and Ororo was forced into a dive roll to dodge another massive item. In the back, nearly all of the kids were screaming at the shocking motion, and there were the distinct sounds of Spike loosing his lunch as a follow-up.

Logan wrinkled his nose. "Damn, now we've got clean-up."

"Worry about it later." Snapped Magneto, his pale lips pulling back in a snarl. "We have more pressing concerns at the moment."

Logan was about to snarl something back at the white-haired man, but before he got the chance Storm had to jerk to the side once more, only narrowly avoiding the huge projectiles that seemed almost like giant boulders of earth, ice and permafrost. "What _are_ these things?"

"Just what they look like!" The Professor grunted, looking down from his wheelchair out of the wide window. "Look down!"

The gathered group in the cockpit did just that, gazing down at the ground almost in disbelief. Standing there, about two thousand feet below them at this point of their decent, was two of the mutants that worked for Dusk, both of them wrapped in some sort of brown cloth. The smaller of the two carried a hammer, which he routinely crashed into the ground to summon up the huge blocks of earth and ice, which in turn were lifted up by his gigantic companion and hurled at their plane.

"How is he throwing those this far?" Storm asked, yanking at the controls to slide to the side. "They're huge!"

"That must be part of his power…it must attribute to some sort of muscular enhancement." Hank muttered, always the serious scientist even when he was turning green beneath his blue fur. "It must have something to do with the ground, or maybe…"

"You can dissect their powers all you want later!" Magneto shouted, sounding aggravated, as Mystique shrieked in her raven-voice from his shoulder. "For now, just get us _down_, before we're a black spot in this white wasteland!"

Storm snarled a bit, but resisted looking back at him. "I'm _trying_! But I can't land as long as they're-"

She was cut off by a sickening crash and the sound of tearing, burning metal. The rest of the plane shrieked in protest, accompanied by the screams of young mutants in the back as they dipped forward suddenly and began spiraling to the ground.

"They got the right wing!" Storm shouted, pulling at the controls as best she could. "We're out of control!"

Logan growled in a feral manner. "Try to get us balanced again!"

"I _can't_!"

"PROFESSOR!" Screamed Kitty from the back, her voice shrill in light of the panic that had overcome them all…

And then, throughout the artic tundra, there echoed the deafening equivalent of some thousand-pound bag bursting open with all the force of a small bomb.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Arbor stopped throwing and started laughing as he saw the plane go down. His laugh was not particularly intelligent, in fact, it was slow and stupid and sounded something like he had to think about every grunt-like chuckle before it actually made its way out. "Looks like we did a good job, right?"

"Yeah. Mesa thinks they never get up from that." Grumble laughed as he turned back towards the camp. "Come, Arbor. We go report to Boy-Master now. Tell him dat they never stand chance."

"Right, we work 'em over good, right." Arbor turned with his friend and stomped off, leaving large footprints in the snowy ground. "Ain't nobody comin' outta that, right."

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

It was dark inside the Blackbird, which had something to do with the power having cut out. For a long while it sat on the ice, dark and mostly lifeless, save for a few sparks from a certain large for in the back, until the main engine kicked back to life with a quiet hum. The lights flickered twice before coming on to reveal that everyone in the plane…had come out unharmed.

"Is everyone all right?" Were the first words out of the Professor's mouth as he lifted his head.

"Everyone in here's okay." Logan grunted with a mild glance, unbuckling his harness. He made his way to the back and called into the rear hall. "Hey, everybody's still alive back there, right?"

"Oh sure, just peachy." Mumbled Avalanche grumpily

Scott rolled his eyes at him as he helped Tomoki straighten from where the smaller boy had fallen half-way through his safety harness. "We're all in one piece, Logan. Nobody's been hurt."

"Even me?" Kurt's ears perked and his tail twitched. "All right! I thought ve vere dead for sure!"

"I don't feel so good…"

Kitty shrieked. "Ack! Like, Evan, don't aim that at me! Turn around!"

Logan blew his short bangs up and turned back to the cockpit. "Looks like everyone's okay."

"Well, that's more than can be said for the plane." Beast sighed, shaking his head as he scanned yellow eyes over the screens. "The controls are fine, but we're stuck in ice, not to mention the gaping six-foot hole in right wing…"

"It can't be helped." Magneto sighed, standing and brushing off his suit. Mystique landed on the ground next to him and slide out of the raven form into her own familiar blue form. "We'll simply have to fix it."

The Professor breathed out through his nose, calming himself and his mind (which was rather hard given the thoroughly relieved thoughts of his formerly freaked-out young charges) before he turned to Storm. "What do you think, Ororo? Do we stand any chance of fixing the Blackbird in the next few hours?"

"Absolutely none." Storm shook her head, letting go of the controls and leaning back in her seat. "It's just not humanly possible, Professor, it would take weeks to fix something like…"

"Of course it's not _humanly_ possible." Magneto sniffed, magnetizing a piece of scrap metal from the corner of the room to fly into his open hand. "But we aren't exactly human, now are we, Charles?"

For a moment, the two old friends turned somewhat-cordial enemies narrowed their gazes at each other. Finally, Professor X gave in and sighed.

"All right, Eric…What do you have in mind?"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

In this kind of weather, Hank was actually quite satisfied with his thick full-body covering of blue fur. At least, if nothing else, it was suitable warm for such an environment.

It really was lucky, in a way, that Jean had been conscious enough to cushion their fall just before the plane had hit the ground, even if the pressure of such a thing sent the poor girl's senses for enough of a loop that she had to stay behind in the sickbay. Without her efforts, there would have certainly been many causalities, and their mission would probably have to be scrapped as a result.

The teens had already set out with Storm and Wolverine as leaders and escorts, trudging through the snow towards the base that the Brotherhood had discovered. They were accompanied by Toad, who had been one of the pair stationed out here, while Blob had remained behind at Magneto's orders to help with the reconstruction of the wing as Charles and Mystique reconfigured the flight control data.

As for Beast, he was currently moving slowly but surely through the near-artic landscape to examine just how much of the Blackbird had been damaged by the crash itself. There was very little, from what he could see, besides being stuck in the snow, all they would need was a few patch-ups.

But just as he thought this, something caught his eye. Hank wandered over and raised a curiously bushy eyebrow at the strange sight.

A large hole had been cut in the side of the cargo hatch, straight through the metal. It was just big enough for someone of relatively medium height to crawl through, a hypothesis supported by two handprints that had been left in the snow just below it, with a pair of footprints turned in the opposite direction from the hands that seemed to indicate a kind of back bend to get out of the relatively small hole.

But what intrigued him the most was the quality of the cut, the nature of its operation. It seemed to have been seared away, almost melted so that single still-solid piece had fallen out for its molten-metal ring.

Beast looked at the seared edge of the steel, which was only now losing the light glow around the edges as the metal cooled in the chill of the Siberian night. The only thing that could do something that cleanly without any noise to alert either himself or the Professor was a high-powered beam of energy.

And _that_ meant…

Hank sighed, turning on his radio. "Charles, you're not going to believe this."

"What is it, Hank?"

Beast sighed, noticing now the small foot prints in the snow, leading away from the plane and towards the base. He sighed, stealing himself to deliver the bad, but not entirely unexpected, news. "Looks like we had a stowaway…"

_**TBC…**_

Arbormon has, without a doubt, the most annoying accent I've ever had to work with.


	13. Cold

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 13: Cold**

_I hate the cold._

At the moment, that was the only thing going through Kouji's mind as he trudged through the knee-deep snow banks. He clutched an orb of light tight to his chest, which provided just enough heat to protect his uncovered hands from frostbite, but the rest of him was justly miserable.

He kept having to increase the intensity of the light as time went on, partially to push away the darkness of the setting sun and partially to increase the warmth as the vicious cold set further and further in.

His hair was frozen. He could just feel it, his hair had been a little wet with sweat from the energy he'd given out searing through the haul, and now it was frozen solid against his head, like a helmet, hard enough that if he fell off a cliff or something stupid like that, it wouldn't hurt him a bit. Not a single damn bit.

He resisted the urge to blow on his hands, it wouldn't help anything…and besides, he didn't want to put out what little light he had. Even it he could manipulate its strength, giving it a form that he could hold and touch was a bit like Takuya and his fireballs, and could blow out just as easily.

_I. Bloody. Hate. The cold._

He forced his thoughts away from that train, focusing on his goal, his mission. He had to get to the base…he could follow the others' footprints well enough in the deep snow…and get to Kouichi before they did. He had to bring his brother back to the surface…somehow…and he had to do it quick, or they would…

He couldn't let that happen.

So he kept going, trudging through the ice and the snow and the damn cold, his mind focused on the one thing that meant more to him than all of this, more than anything else.

_Just hold on…Nii-san…_

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Ororo paused a moment, halting the group of cold, miserable, moaning kids within her protective bubble of air, which succeed to keep the more extreme temperatures from them. They could see the base now, its cold black upper level obvious against the pure white horizon. It was not as well hidden as the other had been, but no one doubted why given the horrid time they were having getting there, and everyone was groaning over stopping so far away from the only cover they had. But the Professor's voice was calling over the radio.

"_Storm. Come in, Storm."_

The weather-user took the small black device from her belt as Logan dialed in his own frequency to listen in at the rear of the group. "Yes, Professor?" Ororo asked softly, keeping her voice low to conserve her own power.

"_I believe you have someone tracking you. He's probably about thirty minutes behind."_

Storm went rigid, as did Logan. "Tracking…?"

"_Yes." _The Professor sounded vaguely amused, but at the same time, vaguely annoyed, which was a strange thing to hear in itself. "_We've had a stowaway. Mostly likely…No, almost definitely, it's Yang."_

Storm relaxed but Logan did not. If anything, he seemed even more tense. "What the hell is that kid doing out in something like this? We told him to stay home!"

On the other end of the line, the Professor's voice chuckled. "_Logan, when has Kouji ever listened when his brother is concerned?"_

Wolverine mumbled a bit, but it was more of an agreement than anything else. Despite the cold and the snow and the kids (still whining and still miserable, though no one could blame them) there was a part of Ororo that couldn't help smiling. Logan pretended not to care about anybody, but the fact of the matter was that some of the kids - Rogue and Kouji in particular - had gotten under his skin to the softy heart that he kept hidden deep inside. Storm thought that the Wolverine saw something of himself in those two kids in particularly, which was why he tried his very hardest to push them both towards another (safer) direction in life.

"So what do we do about it, Chuck?" Logan mumbled grumpily.

"_We make sure he doesn't freeze to death, Logan."_ The Professor said calmly. "_He's not stupid, he's probably following your footprints. Send someone back to find him, just to make sure he stays safe."_

Wolverine brushed his hair away from his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh, locking eyes with Ororo seriously. "All right then. I'll…"

"_If it helps your decision at all…"_ The Professor interrupted, with a slightly amused tone. "_Yang would have to have some help to sneak aboard the Blackbird without anyone noticing."_

Ororo lifted one pale eyebrow and turned her head to glance at Nightcrawler, who was whistling badly and nonchalantly in the freezing cold wind. Flare smacked the blue-furred mutant over the back of the head. "Don't do that! It makes us look suspicious!"

"So do vou!"

"A-hem." Storm coughed lightly and frowned at the two boys. "Takuya. Kurt. Did you have anything to do with this?"

"No." Takuya squeaked, going rigid. "No idea."

"Ve don't know anything!" Kurt squawked a bit. "Nope, nope, nothin' to know…"

All eyes, especially those of several other, more volatile mutants who were getting dangerously sick and tired of cold and frostbite. Actually, the only one who wasn't glaring at them angrily was Yuki and Iceman, who were both smiling and ignoring basically everything and everyone while deep in tune with their element outside of the barrier. However, that still left Rogue, Avalanche, Quicksilver, Shadowcat, Zephyr (both shockingly threatening, though Izumi's seemed more exasperated), Lightening Bug, Jean and Cyclops (which could be physically threatening) all glaring at the two mutant teens with exasperation and mild fury.

Nightcrawler's tail curled around his wrists with an awkward laugh. "Ah-Ah guess dat means ve should go look for him, yah?"

"Yeah." Logan muttered sourly, pulling a bag around to dig into it. He pulled out a flashlight, a blanket, and some matches and shoving them at Kurt. "Here. And bamph to the base when you've got him, so you don't loose any digits. Clear?"

Kurt gulped at the mention of fingers being lost and nodded. "Crystal."

"Good."

Izumi sighed and reached into her bag, pulling out an extra space blanket and crossing to put it over Takuya's shoulders. "Here. Keep yourselves warm, okay?"

"Gee…" Takuya grinned at her awkwardly and blushed a bit as he pulled the blanket a bit more tightly around him. "Thanks."

Zephyr smiled at him and rubbed her hands together, Shadowcat muffling giggles behind her. "You're welcome."

"A-_hem_." Logan took the lighter and shoved it into Takuya's hands. "Get going, Sparky, or you'll be the ones freezing your tails off."

"Y-Yes sir!" Kurt and Takuya both gave a rather awkward sort of nervous salute, then the blue-furred mutant grabbed his friend's bared hand and bamph'ed out of the shield, into the frozen wasteland.

Ororo blew her white bangs up as they disappeared, swiping a gentle breeze through the bubble to wash out the smell of sulfur, then turned towards the obsidian black base once more. "All right, everyone. Let's get going. We've got a mission to finish. Move _out_."

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"My Lord? Art thou quite certain about this?"

Dusk let out an aggravated sigh, rolling his eyes. That was the fifth time in the last hour that Mercurious had asked to confirm his plans, and it was getting more than a little annoying.

"For the last time, Mercurious, _Yes_. I am certain." He hissed lightly, running a hand through his hair as he looked at himself in the mirror. He took a long drink from the goblet in his hand, taking just a moment to enjoy the sweet taste of fine wine that he hadn't been allowed to enjoy during his long years of mental imprisonment. His eyes moved to glare at his henchman. "Do you have a problem with the plan?"

The green-robed mutant took a deep breath and let out a light sigh, but lowered his head in a bow. "No, My Lord."

"Then you should _NOT_ be bothering me!" Dusk snapped, spinning around. He gave his wrist a quick flip and flung the remaining bit of cold, crisp red wine into the blonde mutant's face.

Mercurious sputtered, jerking backwards in shock. For a split moment, the splatter of liquid looked like blood on the pale, otherwise handsome face, and as it dribbled away it stained the front of his green robes. He coughed a few times, rubbing his face and eyes to clean the mess away as best he could.

Dusk smirked at him coldly. "Is that quite all, Mercurious?"

"Y-Yes, my Lord…" Mercurious muttered hesitantly and bowed, backing out of the room as quickly as he could, his head bowed in shame.

Dusk had to smirk. It always felt so _good_ to put his pompous second-hand-man in his place. Especially after the little _upstart_ had tried to replace him as commander in his long absence. Mercurious was getting a big head and a bigger ego. This mission was not about _his_ wants.

It was about _destiny_.

That thought sent a wave of wonderful righteousness rippling through him, tickling his senses in a way that could be called delightful. But too soon, much too soon, that happy feeling dissipated with a ripple of indignation.

Something…no, some_one_…was poking at his consciousness from the depths of his mind. There was no other answer for it, he knew, it had to be the boy, the bound and chain mute who'd been broken from his family, his friends and his hope and left to rot in the recesses of what was now his body…It had been so long since the child had been a bother that Dusk assumed his will to survive had finally been broken. But it seemed that, with the news of his friends' approach, the boy was giving one more futile attempt to break out of his prison and take back 'his' body.

The attempt made Dusk laugh just the slightest bit, partially out of amusement, but mostly because they did little more than tickle. He chuckled, setting down the now-empty goblet and reaching into his pocket once more.

"Give it up, boy." He hissed, projecting his voice inward to echo through his mind and surround his host in its complete certainty. "I'm not going to give up my new life so easily. Destiny has chosen _me _to change the world. You are simply disposable."

The tickle jerked a bit and stabbed into his mind like a needle. Dusk gritted his teeth and gave another shock back, the equivalent of a hard kick in the helpless boy's side. A strangled, voiceless gasp echoed through his mind, and then…nothing.

"That's more like it." Dusk smirked again, pulling out the small black sphere and rolling it along his fingers. "Stretching out for one of your little mind-reader friends, boy? It won't work, you know. There's nothing you can say to them anymore, even if they were here."

The gleaming black orb caught just a little light, reflecting Dusk's new face back at him, the dark hair, dark eyes and sunglasses all perfectly in place. He liked the way it looked, so he smiled at himself just once more.

"After all, your voice is mine now." He whispered, then lifted the orb into his mouth and swallowed it one quick gulp.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"I _hate_ the cold." Takuya muttered, clutching his hands as close as he could around the glowing ball of fire in his hands. "Man, Kurt, you're lucky you've got fur."

"Lucky?" The German mutant was shivering wildly, rubbing his three-fingered hands together and holding the flashlight out and lit with his tail. "Mine fur is frozen, Ta'kya! Frozen solid! Look at us! Ve've got icicles hanging off of our icicles!"

Takuya shuddered a bit and pulled the space blanket more tightly around him. "All the m-more reason to get this over with _quick_. Where the hell is Yang? And how is he not and ice statue by now?"

Before Kurt could give his answer, a light suddenly appeared from the darkness before them, so sharp and sudden that both were almost instantly blinded by the shock. Takuya's fireball vanished and Kurt dropped the flashlight, reeling backwards to cover their eyes.

And from the light, there came a voice: "I kept moving, moron. That's how I'm not frozen."

Takuya forced his eyes open and jerked his head up to the figure holding the light clutched in his hands. "Kouji! Fer Cris'sakes!"

"Quit complaining." Muttered Yang sourly. "My night vision's as bad as yours, and I'm not in the mood to put up with you right now. Got that?"

Kurt fumbled in the snow, pulling out the flashlight. He had to hit it a few times to get it to start up again, but when he did he traced it along the snow so that they could see all of Yang's body, not just his face, which was illuminated by the orb of light that he held between his folded hands.

"Vou look like vou came out okay." Said Nightcrawler, hopping forward just a bit to examine a cut in Kouji's left arm. "Is dis all vou got from dat crash?"

"Yeah." The light-user shrugged without much care. "It's nothing important."

"Says you!" Takuya exclaimed, throwing his hands up in aggravation. "We thought you were dead, buddy! What would you have done if the cargo hatch got torn open, huh?"

Another shrug. "I would have died."

"How can you say that so easily?"

Kouji's blue eyes opened finally to glare at Takuya, who jerked back in surprise. Said navy blue orbs were dark and cold and heavily rimmed in a haunting, almost terrifying manner. Kouji hadn't slept in days, that was too obvious, he was restless, he was angry and he was…afraid.

"I don't care." He whispered in a dangerous tone. "You know what's important to me now."

…Of course they did.

"All right then." Kurt held out his hands, still clutching the flashlight with his tail. "Let's get going."

_Bamph!_

…_Bing bing bing, squeee, KA-BASH!_

"AAAAAH!"

Kouji, Takuya and Kurt all jumped at the fury of sounds that echoed from the black base from the instant they came out of Nightcrawler's teleportation. They were only a few feet from the half-open entrance, close enough to feel the tinge of warmth radiating from the door standing ajar, and to hear every single crash, explosion and wild sound that only a mutant could make echoing out.

"Vh-Vhat is that?" Kurt squawked, his hair standing on end.

"It's got to be the others!" Takuya exclaimed, snapping the lighter open and leaping to his feet from where he'd slid into a snow back. "Aw, damn, the fight started without us!"

"EEEEEEK!"

Another jerk, this time from Kurt. "Kitty!"

Kouji's hand snapped out, reaching for the beam of light from the flashlight. A section of it came off in his hand and sharpened instantly, forming his favorite weapon, the light-blade he'd created during his first X-Men 'mission', the one that started everything…

"Then let's get going." He snapped, and the last trio of X-Men dove into the base, and the last battle final began.

_**TBC…**_

Hey, lookit! I managed to avoid the battle scene for one more chapter! I know you guys aren't so thrilled, but it's a big deal for me…you have no idea how much I HATE writing battle scenes. Of course…now I have to write one for Yin next week…oh well. Cie la vie.

I'm sorry for the slow pace of the last few chapters, but the big fight really needs to be important and detailed, and I haven't gotten all of the details worked out yet. The next chapter is when the battle REALLY gets rolling, and I'm getting twice what I usually do written now that school has started (please don't ask how that works) so I should be able to get it out more quickly now…Gomen nasai, please, please be patient with me.


	14. Battlefield Tactics

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 14: Battlefield Tactics**

Takuya and Kurt, with equal urges to get to the battle and out of the cold, dove into the black base and just under one of Cyclops's force beams, which left a sizable scar in the black-metal wall. Kouji rolled in as well, his light-blade bared to slice through long tendrils of vine like a hot knife through ice.

"Oh, man…" Kurt coughed a few times, squinting through the darkness and dust. "Vhat is going on here?"

"A fight, what else?" Takuya muttered, pulling the lighter into his grip.

Bobby's head popped up from the dust so suddenly that Kurt bamph'ed about a foot away in a mild panic. "It's about time you showed up!" The ice-user exclaimed. "We're getting our butts kicked in here!"

Shadowcat, pulling herself up to her waist from the floor, rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, like, real nice way to raise team morale, Bobby."

"Not now." Wolverine snapped, rolling up onto one knee so he could peer over the edge of the fallen debris in a cautious, anxious, battle-ready manner. His eyes slide to Kouji with a harsh blue glare. "Do you have _any _idea how much trouble you're in, Flashbulb?"

"I could care less." Kouji snapped back, his voice even and unintimidated, refined by his own determination. "I'm getting my brother out of here."

Logan snarled just a bit. "What do you think _we're_ trying to do?"

Kouji didn't answer, but his eyes narrowed with a wolfish-ly disbelieving glare. Logan sighed, partially in aggravation, and partially because he could see the reflection of his young, teenage self - at least, what he could put together of his teenage years from fragmented memories - staring back at him in the depths of those navy blue orbs. The thought brought another groan to his lips, and he reached out to take the boy by the shoulders.

"Listen to me, Yang."He muttered, twisting a bit to yank the boy out of harm's way, just in time to dodge a spiraling fountain of water. "We're going to get him back, do you hear me? That's what we're here to do, that's what we've always been here to do. We are going to get Yin back, de-…"

He cut off, realizing what he was about to say, but Kouji already knew it. His scowl deepened. "'Dead or alive', right?"

Wolverine hissed. "Yang…"

"Save it." Kouji snarled, and lifted his blade of light to block the path between his mentor's eyes and his own. "I don't need backup, I don't need your help. I'm getting him back on my own. I don't care _what_ your stupid plan is!"

Before anyone could stop him, he put one hand on the edge of the rubble and vaulted over, using his blade to slice through several vines and dart deeper into the cloud of enemy powers. Logan twisted and groped out to catch the boy, but he missed. "Yang!"

"Yang, wait!" Storm exclaimed, seeing him start to dart from a distance. "No! You're going to get…"

Kouji reacted just in time to miss another tidal wave of water from Aquani, who surfed by him without much more than a glance and a giggle before dumping her flowing stream onto Cyclops and Toad, bawling both over in a single swipe.

"What is he doing?" Zephyr exclaimed, the wind of her attack blown off-course by her shock at Yang's actions.

"Something akin to suicide." Takuya groaned, sliding back to cover the girl with his arm, pushing her away from the water. "Kouji, you moron, what the hell are you trying to do?"

Kouji wasn't listening to any of them, though it could have been that he couldn't hear them over the roar of the attacks surrounding him. He dropped to his knees just long enough to slide under another shot of Arbor's vines, and was on his feet the instant he reached the other side.

Jean rocked back on her heels and drew in a sharp breath. "This isn't right…"

"What're you talking about?" Avalanche growled, gripping his hands into fists. "All we've got to do is blow them away!"

"Not that!" The psychic glared at him sharply and directed her voice to Cyclops. "Scott, something's wrong!"

The optically-powered mutant backed up several steps to slide down beside her, blasting away an outcrop of rock. "What? What do you mean?"

"It's Yang!" Jean pointed at the boy dodging through the enemy's attacks with calculated grace and speed of a level that they'd never considered possible for someone of his young age. "I…I'm picking something up from them. I think…I think it's a trap! I think they _want_ him to get through!"

"Then warn him!"

"I _can't_!" Jean was obviously frustrated, and her voice had risen into a higher octave from the frustration of it all. "I've been trying to reach him, but I can't get into his mind! It's being blocked somehow!"

Scott took only a moment to realize the implications of that statement before he started shouting at the top of his lungs. "YANG! YANG, STOP! YANG!"

But it was too late. Kouji jumped, his feet doubly propelled by the sudden shot of rock that sent him flying into the air, somersaulted over Aquani and Grumble, and landed somewhat roughly, his knees nearly jarring out from under him. But he regained his sense of balance after only a second, and shot off down the hall before anyone could stop him.

"Oh no…" Jean sighed, pressing her hand over her mouth. The smirk on Mercurious's sly face as he hovered in the background confirmed her fears even without touching his thoughts. "Yang…"

"He'll be all right." Cyclops muttered, firing another laser blast from his eyes. "We just have to get to him before Dusk does, that's all. Just hang in there, Jean, keep fighting and we'll get to them…"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Beast slid into the cockpit of the Blackbird with the educated finesse that had been left to him by his previous 'life' as a teacher. The idea of this respected teacher had been most eliminated by the furry blue form his mutant powers now took, but he was rather proud of himself that he was able to keep at least some part of his previously respected human form.

He moved easily between the seats of the cockpit to move to the very front and sink into a chair with a sigh. Charles Xavier looked over at him and grinned just a bit. "I take it the going is a bit rough out there, eh, Hank?"

"You're tellin' me." The large blue mutant popped a crick out of his thick neck, rubbing it with one large hand. "But between the two of I think they've basically got the wing back on…I think Magneto is welding it all back together right now…"

"That's good to hear." The Professor sighed lightly and ran his fingers over the keyboard, bringing the plasma screens back to life. "The systems are back on-line, mostly. I just need to bring the shields back up…and the radar masking system…and we'll be able to join the others very quickly."

Beast grinned and stretched, opening his mouth to say something, but before he could, the Professor jerked in the distinct way that meant someone was contacting him through his telepathic link. It was so obvious that Hank could almost hear the frantic word:

"_Professor!"_

"I…I _hear_ you, Jean." Professor X groaned lightly out loud, both for Hank's sake and to ease the headache that was brought on by the girl's shrill panic. "What's wrong? What's happening?"

"_It's Yang!"_ The younger psychic was in a hurried state of distress, brought on by fear, panic and the adrenaline rush of the midst of battle. "_We…We all got in, and they were waiting for us, just like you thought. We're fighting them now, but Yang got through…Professor, it's a trap! They let him through for a reason, I know they did, I just don't know…"_

"Jean, calm down." Charles mutter as he and Hank exchanged worried looks, especially since Beast had no idea what, exactly, was happening. The Professor took a deep breath, letting it out with a soft sigh, then opened his blue eyes seriously. "Listen to me carefully, Jean. I have a plan that just might work…"

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

Kouji dashed through the metal-lined halls at a carefully-paced speed that he'd never thought possible. His body, senses mangled by the shock of frostbite-level cold suddenly being thrown out in favor of artificially-made heat, felt as though he had been running for months, not just thirty minutes or so.

This part of the base was in total, complete darkness. The only light came from his own light-blade sword, clutched tightly in his fist to keep its strength and form constant. Every now and then, his left hand moved cautiously down to the flashlight at his waist, his only source of power should something make him let go of the blade…

His foot snagged on something heavy and he fell. His hands opened on instinct before he hit the ground, and the blade of light vanished.

Yang cursed under his breath and twisted, grabbing his flashlight and turning it on in the same motion. The beam of light cut through the darkness in a wide arc, falling over his unseen obstacle to reveal a human form. A very, very familiar human form, curled up on the spot where Kouji had inadvertently kicked him, hands gripping his stomach painfully. Kouji recognized the face now curled into an expression of pain…it mirrored his own.

"Nii-san," his voice hissed lightly, though his mind was cursing lightly. He instantly summoned a portion of the light into his hand, ready for an attack, for defense, for anything, even though it didn't seem like Dusk to be lying on the ground this way unless something was really wrong…

The other stirred, turning towards him with a light groan. Kouji's hand tensed over the slick movement of the partially solidified light, his body going rigid in case of a surprise blow, but it was unnecessary. The blue eyes turned up to him, slow, pained, afraid, and whispered one word of hesitant disbelief:

"K-Kou…ji?"

That was his brother's voice…his brother's _real_ voice, not the darkness-tinged sound that had come before. That was the speech of a grown man, not the young boy he heard now. And that meant that…

"Nii-san?" Kouji gulped, almost not believing it. He moved closer, putting a hand on the other's shoulder.

Kouichi reacted instantly to the touch, his hands moving to grip the other's tightly. "Kouji…It is you. You're really here…Oh, god, Kouji!"

The elder brother practically threw himself at the younger, holding him tightly around the waist. Tears poured from his eyes with loose sobs, happy ones, and he pulled himself closer to his brother lovingly.

Yang hesitated for just a moment, mostly from shock, then wrapped his arms around his brother. Tears were pricking at his eyes, too, he was so surprised and happy to have him back again.

"Nii-san…" he whispered, holding more tightly even as the rational side of his mid cropped up again. "What…What about Dusk? What happened to him."

"He's still here…" Yin sniffed, burying his eyes in the other's clothes. "In my head…he's still here. I got control back for a while, just a little while, but I don't know how long I can keep it…"

Kouji made a gentle noise to quiet and calm him, running his fingers through the other's hair. "It's okay, Nii-san…It's okay. I'll get you back to the Professor, he'll get him out of you for good, we'll go now…"

"No!" Kouichi gripped Kouji's wrist tightly enough to pull the skin-tight fabric of the X-uniform away from the younger brother's flesh. "We can't, not yet! The Zero-One…his machine…we have to destroy it, Kouji! If we don't and he takes over again… he'll use it, he'll take over the world."

Again, Kouji hesitated. His only reason for coming here, the reason he'd gone through all of this, was to save his brother and free him from that monster's grip…but Dusk threatened the entire world, and that thought would bring his brother pain, he knew it would…

His brother's face was begging him now. "Kouji, please!"

"All right." Kouji sighed, shifting a bit to lift his brother by the shoulders. "All right, Nii-san. We'll do it, we'll go." He pushed a smile onto his face. "Don't worry, we'll stop him."

He pushed himself to his feet and offered the elder brother his hand. "Come on. We'll take care of it, together. I promise."

Kouichi rubbed his eyes on the sleeve of his overly-fancy opera suit, staining the cuff with saltwater before he nodded. He took his brother's hand with a smile and allowed himself to be helped up. Kouji gave him one quick grin, then turned his gaze and his flashlight back down the hall. "Let's go."

In the darkness, Kouji couldn't see his brother's face work into a confident, conniving smirk.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"I can't believe we're doing this…"

"Do you have a better plan, Sparky?"

Takuya scowled. "No."

"Then shut up and do as you're told." Logan growled, and moved to the other young mutant he was covering. He slashed through a vine on his way, then looked down at her. "You sure you're up to this, kiddo?"

Izumi tossed a lock of blonde hair over her shoulder, gripping her hands into eager little fists. "Of course. All set."

"Why does she get a choice and I don't?" Flare's voice raised into a bit of a whine.

"Because Storm could cover if Zephyr's not up to it." Jean responded, carefully organizing this front the way the Professor had instructed. "But you're the one who has to get through, Flare. You've got to get through to Yang."

"Why me?"

"Because you're the only one who can reason with him." Tomoki spoke up, grinning slightly. "He listens to you."

Takuya scowled. "Where'd you get that idea?"

"No time for arguing now, buddy." Junpei grinned a little too brightly, slapping Flare on the back and giving him the equivalent of a severe static shock that sent small sparks flying in front of his eyes. "Besides, you don't have to worry. Yuki and I will cover you every step of the way."

Flare groaned a bit, shaking his head. "Great. Just what I need…"

"It can't be helped." Jean sighed, shaking her head lightly and peering over the rubble. "You four are the only ones we can spare right now. Get through, no matter what, and get to Yang. You've got to warn him about the trap, and fast. We can't loose both of them."

Takuya grit his teeth in a disgusted manner. "We're not loosing _either_ of them."

"…Of course not." Jean sighed a bit in a sad manner, and Logan scowled as the elder pair of mutants stepped back. "Everyone ready?"

For a moment, Takuya and Izumi locked eyes, a mutual gaze which moved to the other two members as well. All at once, as though their minds were aligned, they nodded. "All set."

"You better be." Logan growled, looking out into the rubble again. "It's time."

"On the count of three, then." Jean sighed, taking a deep breath as Zephyr slipped back into her ready position. "One…Two…Three!"

Flare, Zephyr, Yuki and Lightening Bug shot forward on burst of air and collided with what some would have called destiny.

_**TBC…**_

Argh…I wish I could give Junpei and the others a bigger part, but I just can't figure out how. It's a pain in the butt, but I really want them to have a bigger part, which they will by the end, but I feel like I'm not using them efficiently enough…

I also wish I could have thought of a better mutant name for Junpei…


	15. Sneak Attacks

I am sooooooo sorry for the slow updating everyone! Gomen nasai, gomen nasai! I have a good excuse, though as those of you who have ever been in an extensive theatre production will know: Tech Week. But don't worry! Rehearsals will be over soon, and that means that I'll have lots more time to work, so please be patient with me!

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 15: Sneak Attacks**

"Is this it?"

Kouji lifted his free hand, the one not clutching his tiny ball of light, and ran his fingers over the carved black obsidian of the gigantic doors. They were so amazingly, unbelievably tall that the little ball of light could not illuminate all the way to the top. The light glimmered off the carvings with a pale, bluish light, highlighting the black in the darkness for a sharp contrast.

"This…This is it." Kouichi groaned a bit and held onto his head, as though in pain. "The machine…it's right past these doors. We've got to…destroy it…"

"Nii-san, stop." Kouji warned, lowering his brother to the ground and knelling beside him. "Nothing good is going to come from you hurting yourself to do this. It doesn't have to be both of us. I'll go in and get rid of the machine myself, you stay here and rest a moment."

Kouichi's eyes widened sharply, and his mouth fell out a bit. "B-But…But…"

"You're too tired, you're not ready for this." Kouji reasoned softly, trying to be soothing. "That bastard took a lot out of you, and if you're not careful he'll come back again. You have to relax now, or you'll just make it worse."

"I don't care about that!" Kouichi exclaimed, and seemed to hesitate, as though afraid of what he was about to say. "I just…I don't want you to go in there alone…I don't know what he's done to it, I can't…remember…"

"Okay, okay." Kouji soothed gently, putting his hands on his brother's shoulders. The older twin's tone worried him, that frightened, over-excited voice that made him worry about what was to come after they opened those doors, so insistent that they face it… "We'll go in together, okay?"

Kouichi nodded with a thankful little smile, and let himself be helped to his feet. Kouji pulled his brother's arm up over his shoulders to support him, taking a deep breath of his own as he looked up at the great doors. "Okay then, here we go."

He let go of the ball of light, just for a moment, and it disappeared into the darkness like a spark. He reached out with one hand and slowly, cautiously, pushed open the huge black doors…

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

A loud screaming echoed through the dark hallways of the icy-cold base.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"_

It was a predominately male chorus, made of two half-developed teen voices and one high-pitched falsetto that hadn't had the chance to change yet. This had something to do with the fact that they were the ones hurling through the air on an apparently random, chaotic stream of air, every moment coming dangerously close to slamming against the thin, heavy walls. The blonde girl actually controlling the winds, of course, knew exactly what she was doing, and was thus the only one not screaming her head off.

"Holy-!" Yelped Flare, following the sacred word with a string of harsh unprintable as their little group dipped towards the wall with a harsh bob. "Could you watch where you're steering, _please_?"

"Sorry!" Zephyr apologized, dipping in the other direction. "I've never done this with more than two people before, it's a little awkward!"

"Oh, sure, tell us that NOW!" Lightening Bug yanked his feet up just in time to avoid loosing the toes of his boots to rough corners of the walls.

Yuki, a bright sort of smile still on his somewhat-green face, was trying to keep up a positive outlook on things. "At least we got past the fight!"

"Yeah, sure we did." Takuya craned his head back, getting a sideways glance of the little blue-haired woman - 'Aquani', her name was - and the burly little earth shaker they called 'Grumble' blasting in their direction, just a few feet off of their heels.

Of course, this break in ranks had not gone unnoticed by the other combatants, as Avalanche and Shadowcat were right on their heels, the former running with enough force to break the tile of the floor, the later alternating between the hall itself and the walls around them, phasing away just in time to avoid Aquani's water attacks. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that the others would be right behind them so enough, but they couldn't pay them any mind - they had to get to Yin and Yang, had to stop Dusk…

Takuya twisted back around and looked up at the girl supporting them. "Izumi! You gotta kick it up a notch!"

"Say what?" The girl snapped her head around so suddenly that her long, blonde hair resisted the force of her own wind for just a split second to follow in a sort of whip. "I can't do that! This is the fastest I've ever been able to go with other people, and if I loose control in here…"

"You won't." Takuya grinned at her, the comforting grin that seemed to be as trademark to him as his pyrokinetics, the kind that installed confidence in others that they could do anything. Anything. "I know you can. We trust you, so go for it!"

"You…You do?" Izumi looked almost as if this kind of trust was a new concept to her. "You really do?"

She glanced to Tomoki, who smiled at her brightly. "Sure we do, 'Zumi! I always have!"

Another glance, this time to Junpei. The largest member of their group shrugged, a somewhat impassive look on his face. "Hey, if you can't, there are worse ways to die. It's better than being stuck in a battery."

For a moment, she just stared. Then a grin, a similar one, spread over her face. "You got it. Hang on!"

And they blasted forward into the very depths of the grand, icy fortress, nearly all of them screaming their heads off from terror and pure adrenaline.

**( - ) ( - ) ( - )**

"So…this is it."

Kouji glanced around the huge room somewhat cautiously, somewhat not. After all, they were the only ones here - that was all to obvious, as there was absolutely no where to hide - and he did have his brother to worry about. Kouichi was leaning full over the other's shoulder, letting the younger twin support both of their weights smoothly enough, putting just enough power into his knees to keep them moving without interruption.

"Yeah…There it is." The elder of the twins motioned ahead of them to the strange, chair-like contraption settled back into the rear of the room, right at the edge of the huge platform that held them over…whatever it was that was glowing below them. "That's the mechanism that runs everything, the one that he wanted…to plug me into. He called it the…Zero-One."

Kouji popped a crick out of his neck and smirked, just a little. "Well, we'll just have to take care of that, won't we, Nii-san?"

Kouichi raised his head a bit, looking confused. "Care of what?"

"The machine, of course." Kouji frowned a bit at the slow reaction, especially considering that the plan to destroy the machine had been all his brother's idea in the first place. "We need to get rid of it. Together."

"Oh…yes, of course."

Kouji, still a little perturbed, eased his brother's arm off of his shoulders and crossed to the machine. He paused by the huge device, placing a hand on it experimentally. The metal, or whatever it was made out of, was freezing cold to the touch, but the seat was lightly warm. Apparently, the metal also absorbed body heat and held it for a while, which meant that Dusk had been sitting there not too long ago…

He clicked the flashlight on for just a second, pulling a small ball of light into his hand. His hand closed tightly, extending the light into a small, dagger-like blade, which he experimentally pressed against the black metal like a knife easing into bread. Except that the bread was a little too hard, and the blade of light stopped only an inch and a half in.

Kouji dissipated the light, leaving a cut in the metal that continued to glow a molten orange even after he had pulled away. "This is tough stuff. Might take a while."

"We don't have a while." Kouichi whispered, his voice shaking a bit as he moved closer to the other boy.

"I know, I know." Kouji soothed gently, moving from the device to the other side of the platform, looking down at the glowing purple-black mass that was rolling and churning far beneath them. "That looks promising. We could try cutting the base and pushing it in."

Footstep, footstep…"That would cause the entire thing to explode."

"…How do you know that?"

Step, step, step. "Because I built it."

The words barely had time to register in Kouji's head before he felt his left arm being wretched painfully behind his back, the knuckles of his own fist planted firmly in the small of his back by another hand, exactly the same size but somehow stronger than he could have thought possible. Another hand was planted on his shoulder, pushing his body forward until he was bent over the edge of the platform, just inches from dropping down into the molten purple that he had been contemplating just seconds before.

A voice, his brother's voice, chuckled just behind his head in a way that his brother's voice had never been twisted into before. "Your weakness is so easy to manipulate. It's almost cute."

"You…" Kouji grunted, yanking at his arms, trying to twist and glare at the other. "How did…you couldn't have…how?"

"Oh honestly, brother, there are times when you can be so dense." Dusk was smirking, Kouji could hear it in his voice, the blasted monster was _smirking!_ "I have complete control of this body, this mind and these powers, did you think that the voice to go with it all was somehow out of my reach?"

Yang growled. "Bastard."

"And now I suppose you're wondering just why I went to all this trouble to bring you here, of all places, considering I've had seventy-eight chances to end your life since you and I met here just a short while ago." Dusk sounded almost giddy, twisting Kouichi's voice into a disgusting kind of cackle. "This part is always so entertaining. I almost wish I could do it more often, just to see that sort of look twisted onto more attractive faces than yours."

'That sort of look' was probably his twisted description of Kouji's current scowl, curling up into the lower right of his face like a knot twisting around itself in hatred and disgust. Dusk chuckled and pulled the boy's arm further up his back. "I'm fond of expressions like that, hatred soon twisted into fear as the realization of your imminent death dawns in the limited scope of your mind. It makes all the waiting and posturing more than worth it."

He shoved forward, bringing Kouji's toes to just inches from the edge of the platform, his face twisted down far enough that the biting cold radiating from the twisted anti-element stung the boy's eyes and cheeks.

"You see that down there?" Dusk's voice had gotten closer, close enough that his breath pushed at the boy's ear insistently. "It's beautiful, isn't it? A chemical merger between Dark Matter and Meitnerium, the densest stable element known to human or mutant-kind. It's never appeared in nature, you know, only by nuclear fusion, so it's quite tricky to get a decent amount and, of course, it's so highly radioactive that most carbon-based life forms expire within five seconds of being in contact with it, but it's one of the few things able to rest at ease with my Dark Matter without reacting instantly. And this bonding is much more stable than my previous bonding with Dubnium, which you saw the last time we crossed paths. This can wait almost infinitely, and reenergize whenever I wish it."

Kouji growled and tried to pull some of the light from this purple mass into his hand, but it would not respond. He cursed mentally - it must be ultraviolet. He never could get a grip on anything outside of the visible spectrum, no matter how hard he practiced or worked at it.

"But it's been too long since I've accessed this particular source of power." Dusk chuckled a bit, leaning back and placing his foot in the back of the boy's knees, ready to push them into collapsing. "It needs a kick-start, a little carbon-based energy to act as a catalyst and get the juice moving. Which is where _you_ come in."

The boot went further into the boy's leg, and Kouji winced. He was used to pain, he'd been trained to resist pain, especially considering that he was used to being beat up at least once a week, if not more, through sparring, but his knees were starting to buckle and his legs would soon give out…

"Of course, I could have just used Mercurious or Grumble or one of those other morons, but a fully-adult human form is just a _little_ too much. It would make the reaction far more potent, and the energy output would become unstable, no good for a power such as this." Dusk's grin widened, stretching into a Cheshire-Cat-like grin, tinged with evil at every edge. "But _your_ body mass, on the other hand, is just about right. And to think, I nearly wasted it all back in those silly mountains."

Kouji yanked at his arm, trying to get it free, but his efforts bore little more than wrenching his shoulder just lightly out of place and straining his already twisted muscles. Dusk had studied the martial arts, Kouji could tell that, and he knew how to use Kouichi's relatively less-defined muscles to such an extent that the younger twin could not even budge. He couldn't stand this, couldn't stand that he had been tricked into this position, and he had to get loose, had to get free…

Dusk's grin stretched from ear to ear even though Kouji couldn't see him, this fact slowly emphasized by the arm pushing up his back, about to send him tumbling down to a cold, radioactive death.

"Goodbye, _brother_."

"…AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGH!"

The huge doors flew open with a rising scream and a massive crash, blown forward by a blaze of fire and air hitting all at once. The blaze and crash ushered in four airborne figures, tumbling head-over-heels in a rather haphazard group, crashed into the Zero-One machine, bounced off the strange metal, and hit the ground rather hard.

"What the hell…?" Dusk turned, momentarily distracted, and it was just enough.

Kouji shoved backwards, slamming his head into Dusk's jaw. The force of the blow loosened the creature's grip just enough for the boy to wiggle loose, twist around, and slam them both to the ground.

Yang pinned the dark creature below him and leaned forward, close enough that the identical noses were almost touching. Kouji growled. "Give. Him. _Back_."

"Yang!" Yuki called, rolling out of the huddle and spotting Kouji first off.

"Get rid of that machine!" Kouji shouted, keeping Dusk pinned. "Don't let your guard down, and don't come any closer!"

Lightening Bug lifted to his knees, confusion showing on his face. "But…"

"DO IT!"

Takuya caught the larger boy's sleeve, especially as the sounds of the progressing battle grew closer. "Do what he says."

Izumi didn't look so sure. "But…Flare…"

"Trust me." The boy insisted, gritting his teeth. "Trust _him_. We've got to do this now, before this place turns into a madhouse. Besides…I'll keep an eye on him."

Yang scoffed a bit at the fire-welder's confidence. "Who said I asked for your help?"

"Who said you needed to ask?" Takuya smirked, and snatched a bit of fire from the burning mass that he himself had started. "Besides, I gotta cover the others, right? Get going, guys!"

The other three, grinning a bit despite themselves - for some reason, it seemed just so _good_ for this to be happening between these two boys - and, with a wave of Izumi's hand, started for the machine.

Dusk growled and spat, twisting the boy's face into something ugly that would never have occurred in any other situation, his dark glasses hanging askew with one eye clenched shut. "Stay _AWAY_ from that machine, rodents, or I'll have your hides for throw rugs!"

Kouji's blade of light, long and sharp as ever, was in his hand almost instantly, drawing its yellow-orange color and lukewarm glow (which, he had discovered, meant it was less sharp and more painful) from the flames that danced around them. He pressed it against the other's throat in a dangerous manner, a burning glare reflecting in his eyes. "Get out. Get out of my brother's body, now, you parasite. You will never use his voice like that ever again."

For a split moment, Dusk looked almost afraid. Then the confidence slid back into place with a conniving grin stretching the face into a twisted mess. "You won't hurt me. Hurting me means hurting your precious brother."

Kouji tightened his grip. Dusk noticed this, and in response he widened his eyes to a very puppy-dog-like state, his stolen voice receding back into innocence. "Goodness, what a face. Would you really become your brother's murderer?"

The grip wavered, and Dusk took his chance. His arm came up, and his elbow connected with the boy's nose, throwing Yang off of him and onto the ground with a painful thump.

"Kouji!" Takuya shouted in warning, shooting out a spiking flare of flame from the ball in his hand. Dusk jumped back out of the way, the sleeves of his fancy opera shirt singed and burned by the heat.

The mutant possessing Yin growled, his eyes narrowing into slits as the shadows began to swirl around him once more. "You should learn your place, _boy_."

"Hey!" Yang acted instantly, throwing a small blast of concentrated light close enough to scrape the creature's cheek. "You're fighting _me_, you bastard. Stay focused."

Dusk growled, turning to him. The shadows looped and struck around him with impossible force, lashing out at apparently random intervals. "Focused…?"

He was cut off once more, this time by a blast of water that shot through the entrance as though fired by a bazooka. It instantly extinguished the flames and bawled over everyone in its path, most of whom grabbed on to the nearest object they could to keep from being thrown over the edge.

With the wave came a garrison of late-comers, all blasting various attacks, with ice and wind and earth and force-beams firing off into all regions of the vast room, forcing a few of their mutant users back into the hall and practically destroying the entrance of the chamber.

From the massive group, a blonde, green-robed figure appeared. "My Lord!"

"Mercurious, you incompetent fool!" Dusk roared in his own voice, the room's darkness returning to full force to blast everyone, everyone, to the very edge. The fighting, understandably, stopped almost instantly as the combatants were hurled into each other. "To violate the home of my Zero-One, to even _consider_ allowing beasts like these to get advantage of you! And now…_this mess_…is all because of _your_ incompetence!"

"F-Forgive us, My Lord!" The blonde begged, on his knees in a desperate attempt to keep from being blown away. "I beg of you, Master, forgive us!"

"SILENCE!"

Another thrust of darkness, and the fury grew stronger. Yuki, Lightening Bug and Zephyr grabbed onto the metal of the Zero-One, and Izumi grabbed Takuya as he started to blow by. Iceman created a wall of ice behind which to shelter himself, Rogue and Nightcrawler. Avalanche summoned up a vast outcrop of earth, securing Shadowcat on purpose and Storm not-on-purpose, while Wolverine dug his claws into the platform. Arbor, thinking remarkably quicker than most people thought him capable of, latched his legs to the ground with vines and grabbed Aquani and Grumble as they began to be blown away.

Dusk turned slowly to the boy on the ground beside him, his eyes a burning pit of hatred. Kouji glared at him, as defiant as ever, but he couldn't even raise his hand to grip the light he needed to attack him with, and even if he could, any particle of his life-giving illumination was instantly smothered by the very force of the darkness around them.

"As for you, _brother_," Dusk sneered harshly. "it's about time I got ride of _you_ once and for all!"

"Yang!" Storm yelled, and Nightcrawler moved to teleport, to catch him, but it was too late.

The Darkness struck with a fury that none of them had seen, and the boy was thrown over the edge to tumble down to the molten, purple mass.

_**TBC…**_

_Meitnerium -_ Atomic number 109 on the periodic table of elements. While it is an element, it is artificially created through nuclear fusion, which means that the atoms of smaller elements are literally crushed together to form a new atom. I actually have no idea how it would react when mixed with Dark Matter, but then, neither does anyone else, so I plead author's privilege on that case.

_Dubnium -_ Atomic number 105. See above. For an idea of exactly how destructive and unstable these things are, you should note that they are both transuranium elements - that is, elements with an atomic number greater than 92, which is that of Uranium. Uranium is the main element used in nuclear fusion reactors, and the higher the atomic number, the more radioactive (atomically unstable) the element is. You do the math.

_Visible spectrum -_ If you haven't taken High School Science 101 (or slept through the class, or just plain don't remember) light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, which flows in waves. These can be charted on a line of other waves through their wavelengths. This chart starts with the widest wavelengths, such as Radio and TV waves, and goes up through the levels to X-rays and Gamma waves. Ultraviolet waves are just a bit higher frequency than visible light, the same way that Inferred waves are just a bit lower. Currently, Kouji's ability can only control the small amount of radiation within the visible light spectrum, that is, the which light that you can fragment through a prism and divide into all the pretty colors. He may be able to develop more control later, but come on - he's only a teenager.

Wow…lots of science in this chapter. I've been hanging out with my brother too much.


	16. Loss

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon or X-Men Evolution. So sue me. No wait…don't._

**The X-Evolution - The Rise of Dusk**

**Chapter 16: Loss**

"Yang, no!" Storm's voice echoed through the huge room, carried by her wind over the gasps and shouts of protest that had sprung from those still conscious enough to know what was going on.

But despite her own efforts and those of Nightcrawler and Flare, the boy fell backwards over the edge of the platform and tumbled down into the depths of the swirling purple concoction.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the purple light pulsed with energy, sparking upward, and began to glow brighter than it ever had before.

Dusk watched this scene with delight, his wide smirk twisting the face of the kind boy he possessed like a stick dragged through exceptionally thick mud. He turned to the group of student mutants with an expression akin to a bird of prey about to descend on its latest meal.

"Excellent try, children." His voice slid around like a skate over ice, slicing through the shadows as easily as a blade, the darkness of the room swirling around him. "But destiny is inevitable. And it is my destiny to guide this world out of the terror of the Light and into a glorious new age of…"

He cut off there, because a single tear had suddenly escaped from his right eye and rolled down his cheek.

The mob surrounding him gasped, especially those who had seen Dusk in action before. Avalanche's brow furled, confused. "What the hell…?"

"He's…crying?" Shadowcat whispered in wonder.

"No…" Jean placed a hand against her forehead, reeling back a few steps in such a manner that Scott moved to support her, afraid that she was going to faint. "It's not him…Not Dusk. It's…Oh my god…"

"What?" Cyclops pressed, gently squeezing her arm. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Jean looked up at him, her eyes wide, standing out boldly against her red hair as her mouth dropped open in an almost dainty manner of shock. "It's…Oh my god, Scott, it's really…It's _Yin_."

Dusk reached up with one hand and wiped the tear away, pulling back to look at the wetness on his fingers in a sort of confused wonder. Then he smirked the meaning came to him. "Foolish boy." He whispered. "Already mourning your brother so deeply?"

Another tear, from the same eye, slipped down the exact same path. Dusk ignored this one, just as he ignored the swirling darkness around him, the loops and tendrils of shadow beginning to writhe under his touch. For a brief moment, the blue eyes that he had stolen scanned over the crowd of mutants confidently. A smirk adorned his dampened face.

"I don't have time to play with you anymore." He said softly, turning on the ball of his smooth, suede black boots. "Destiny awaits."

Mercurious stumbled forward, his leg bleeding and obviously severely wounded - Wolverine's doing, no doubt, or perhaps Quicksilver's - to reach out for the beast in boy's flesh desperately. "M-My Lord…"

Dusk turned to him, his eyes cold. "You've failed me. Get out of my sight."

"B-But…My Lord…"

Dusk lifted his hand, and a wave of darkness rose to his command. Mercurious was swept off his feet and thrown backwards, across the dark metal, over the edge of the platform, and down towards the mass of purple energy…

"Marcus!" Aquani shouted, in her haste divulging the commander's true name.

Izumi stepped forward before anyone could stop her, stretching out her arm and twisting her wrist until her palm was facing straight up. Wind shot forward at her command, swooping beneath Mercurious's body and suspending him in mid-air, shoving him back up onto the platform safely, where he promptly collapsed.

Zephyr stumbled back as well, reeling from the sudden toll on her powers. Takuya moved quickly to catch and support her as best he could. "Orimoto…why'd you…"

The blonde grinned at him a bit. "Blood's…thicker than water, you know."

"How quaint." Dusk sniffed lightly, not truly annoyed that his 'punishment' had be halted, just sickened by the display of family loyalty. He was almost to the machine now, only a few steps from once again becoming master of the Zero-One. He smirked to himself, turning dramatically to face the gathered crowd for one last announcement…

And froze.

Not willingly, mind you, but because the long tendrils of darkness that had been gently caressing his arms and legs like a lover's touch had suddenly turned into harsh, cold chains of shadow that held him firmly in place. The demon within the boy's body snarled. "What the hell?"

At the same moment, the waves of shadow holding the mob of mutants away from him suddenly broke, pulling away so suddenly that Iceman and Avalanche hit the ground hard. The others jerked forward, the muscles that they hadn't realizing they had been straining snapping to alert attention.

Lightening Bug was the first one to ask the obvious question: "What's happening?"

"He's lost control…" Scott's face spread into a bit of an uncertain, yet eager, expression. "He lost control! We can get him now!"

"Are you nuts?" Takuya shouted angrily, grabbing Cyclops's arm. "We can't do that! Kouichi's still in there!"

"Which is why were have to take them out _now_." Scott insisted, yanking his arm free and bringing his hand up to the visor the covered his eyes. "Yin's got to be the one doing this, he's holding him for us. If we don't act now…"

"You're going to _kill_ him!"

"Look!" Tomoki's voice rang out, bringing the other two from their argument with a jerk. The darkness was moving again, away from them, pressed against the floor and tracing out something strange…symbols. Just two. But they were symbols.

Dusk could see them, all too easily, because one of them was painting its way across his face. "What the hell is this?!"

Izumi's eyes widened in recognition. "Kanji…"

Rouge lifted a curious eyebrow. "Say wha now?"

"_Kanji._" Logan mumbled in the same accent, his eyes narrowed on the markings. "Japanese writing inherited from the Chinese. It's pictorial, picture-representative…"

Shadowcat leaned forward cautiously, her hands gripped into fists with anxiety as she stared down at the writing. "Can you…read it?"

Logan gripped his fists and grit his teeth in a savage manner, his eyes sharp. Around the room, the Japanese children - Yuki, Zephyr, Lightening Bug and Flare - were pulling back, obviously surprised, clearly shocked and some of them a little disgusted.

"It says…" Izumi gulped a bit, trying to wet her dry throat. "Kill…me.…"

The younger mutants, especially Nightcrawler, snapped their heads to Wolverine for confirmation. The expression on Logan's face made it clear, very clear - the symbols constantly repeating themselves over and over on every surface in the entire room were a plea for death, and more were coming every second.

Takuya was shaking just a bit, gripping his hands into fists around the lighter tightly. "Yin…"

Storm closed her eyes a moment, then opened them sharply. "We have to."

"Then we'll do it." Logan growled low, tightening his fists. He twisted his arm and motioned violently. "Do it! Everyone, now!"

"But…"

"We can't argue now, Kitty." Iceman interrupted Shadowcat's protests quietly. "We might never get this chance again."

With that, he darted forward, with Yuki even beside him. They paused a moment on either side of the bound creature, then nodded to each other and blasted streams of ice over Dusk's legs.

The creature possessing the boy struggled and looked ready to spit, his hair becoming a wild mess around his face in his fury. "You nasty little…traitor! Disgusting _children_!"

"That's good!" Scott called, stepping forward and lifting a hand to his visor. The words begging for death continued to copy themselves over and over again in darkness, urging them on. "Hold him there! This will be quick…"

They all knew what he wasn't saying: _He won't have to suffer…_

Then something tickled the edge of Jean's consciousness, and she twisted around with a gasp. "Yang…?"

"Vhat?" Nightcrawler and most of the others twisted around in surprise.

And with good reason - it was quite a sight. Yang was being lifted by the very darkness that had thrown him into death, carefully twined around his limbs and torso to support him. His costume was missing something…the right sleeve, which seemed to have been severed across the shoulder seam.

Dusk had twisted as well, and at the sight, his face twisted into an expression of horror. "Why won't you _die_?"

The sound brought Kouji back around, just as the darkness let him go and he dropped, safe, onto the platform. He coughed painfully, hacking several times to get the pressure off of his lungs, and lifted his head just as the boost of power given off by the addition of his carbon-based garment flickered out, returning the room to its original, barely-lit state.

Yang coughed once more and looked up to find Flare and Nightcrawler leaning over him, carefully helping him to his feet. "You okay buddy?"

"I'd say so!" Kurt sighed in relief. "Man, ve thought you vere a goner!"

Kouji shook his head a few times, trying to clear his mind, and the first coherent thought that he could pull together burst from his mouth. "Nii-san…"

Flare and Nightcrawler glanced at each other uncertainly, then moved back so that Yang could see it all. He could see his brother, still possessed, being held in place by darkness and ice working together. He could see Cyclops, ready to fire, but holding back because his reappearance had added an element of uncertainty to the mix. And he could see, hundreds of times over, the Kanji letters begging over and over for death, for freedom…

"Kouji…"

Yang turned his head away from the other two mutants, pushing himself to his feet. He reached for his belt and realized then that his sleeve wasn't the only thing that had been powering the dark matter - his flashlight was gone. "…Light."

"Say vhat?"

"I need light." He muttered, looking to Flare out of the corner of his eyes, keeping his expression carefully pokerfaced to keep the tears from coming. "Takuya…Please. Some light."

The fire-master stared at him a moment, then his face folded in understanding. He sighed lightly, moving his lighter into his hand and pushing the hammer down with his thumb. "Yeah…sure."

With a flick, the lighter brought a spark to life. Kouji reached out with his hand to draw light away from the flame, gathering it into his palm. As he moved forward, he began to roll the solidified light into a thin stick, a beam, clutched between his fingers.

Her pushed past Cyclops, his eyes focused straight ahead. For a moment, he met his brother's gaze, keeping his own expression carefully measured, his emotions under control.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and fired his shot.

The beam of light shot forward, flying through the air like a bullet aimed exactly for its mark. Dusk continued to struggle against the darkness and the ice that held him, shouting in fury, but nothing could stop it.

The light struck him directly in the chest, vanishing instantly. The force made the ice shatter and the darkness was, quite suddenly, just that - darkness.

For a moment, the boy remained standing, gasping, his eyes wide. Then a slight smile crawled over his face and he fell straight backwards, blue eyes slowly closing on the way.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind that he was dead before he hit the ground.

Kouji wasted no time. He raced forward before any of the others could even think to move, scooping the prone form into his arms and clutching his brother close. The tears that had sprung to his eyes fell the moment he reached the other, hearing absolutely nothing - no breathing, no heartbeat, no life.

"Nii-san…" He whispered, tears running down his cheeks. He pulled his brother closer, hating the unresponsiveness, the total lack of motion that accompanied his stroking of the other boy's hair. "Kouichi-nii-san…Nii-san…"

The group of mutants were watching them, but they held off, partially out respect and partially out of fear of just what Yang would do. The boy wasn't paying any attention to them, everything in his body focused on the body clutched in his arms.

Takuya took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Kouji…"

"It's over." The twin whispered, not looking up. "It's over, it's all over… It's over."

There was a long moment of silence. Then Lightening Bug, with a stern expression of determination on his face, stepped forward. "Not yet, it's not."

He moved quickly, sparks beginning to fly as he took two large, gloved fists and slammed them together hard. He spared barely a glance at Kouji for a couple of words. "Move if you don't want to get shocked."

"Say what?" Kouji's glared didn't look exactly threatening with red eyes and tears on his face, but his grip tightened with the desperate need not to be separated from his brother. "What the hell do you think you're…"

But Izumi, realizing what Lightening Bug was about to do, had already moved forward and pulled Kouji away, just seconds before the sparks reached a furious, almost violent level. Junpei separated his fists quickly and let out one almost overly dramatic shout: "CLEAR!"

He slammed the sparking fists into the boy's chest, causing a zap that made the hair on everyone's neck stand up straight. The body jerked as the electricity shot through in, neurons firing without mental interaction.

Junpei pressed his fists together again, shooting a look toward Logan, Ororo and Scott. "How much would you say a defibrillator gives out? 20,000 volts?"

Storm, still surprised by the nature of these actions, stuttered a bit. "W-Well, yes…"

"Good. CLEAR!"

Another impact, radiating with lightening, but this time with more effect. With a shuttering noise, Kouichi jerked and seemed to draw in a sharp breath.

Jean reeled backwards in surprise, putting a hand to her forehead. "Oh my god…"

"What is it?" Scott's gaze shot to her worriedly. "Is it Dusk?"

"N-No…" The telepath closed her eyes, blocking out as much as she could to focus on her instincts. "I…I don't feel Dusk at all. It's like he's completely gone, but Yin…"

"What about Yin?"

Jean opened her eyes to look up at her boyfriend in wonder and surprise. "His heart…it's beating again…Oh, Scott, he's alive!"

The announcement was greeted by a ripple of excitement among the gathered Institute members, as well as light expressions of confusion from the Brotherhood and the dark mutants. Once again, Kouji was the first to act, pulling out of Zephyr's grip to take his brother back from Lightening Bug.

"Nii-san…"

Kouichi's eyes opened very slowly. He blinked several times, his expression blank and numb as the blue orbs traced the group very, very gradually. His head rolled up to meet Kouji's eager, excited eyes. For a moment, the twins just looked at each other, the Kouichi opened his mouth and spoke three dry, raspy words:

"Who are you?"

**The X-Evolution: Rise of Dusk**

**End**

Okay…One more episode, everybody! Please don't kill me, I swear I'll continue it soon! I swear! So don't hurt me…it'll continued soon, in a third story, just one more, I promise, I promise!


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